COVID-19 puts a brief halt to shootings in UP

Despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, 2021 turned out to be quite a star-studded year for UP in terms of film, web and television serial shoots. From Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Sidharth Malhotra, to Kangna Ranaut, Rakul Preet Singh, Sara Ali Khan, Vidyut Jammwal, among others, were shooting in the state at different times during the year, especially post the pandemic lockdown from May onwards.Anubhav Sinha wrapped up his film Bheed with Bhumi Pednekar and Rajkummar Rao in the last week of December. Saif Ali Khan finished the shoot of the film Vikram Vedha also in mid-December. Saurabh Tewari’s TV serial Sab Satrangi was also canned in December last year in Lucknow while a TV show was being shot in Varanasi. Currently, Bhumi Pednekar and Sanjay Mishra are shooting in Lucknow for a film while, the shoot of the web series Rangbaaz 3 is also going on the city these days. But the other shoots have been either cancelled or postponed due to the Omicron outbreak in the state. Line producers say the night curfew is also making producers shy away from coming to the state to shoot.
Saif Ali Khan wrapped up the shoot of Vikram Vedha in Lucknow in December
Last year films, television and web series were shot across the state including Varanasi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Mirzapur, Malihabad, Barabanki, Sitapur, Agra, Meerut, Mathura and Vrindavan, among others. This year too seemed to hold a lot of promise with several big projects lined up to be shot in the state. Among the actors that were expected to can their film or web series in UP are Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapur, Huma Qureshi, Kunal Kemmu and Shivin Narang. But rising cases of Covid-19 have put a break on the shoots for now. The shooting of Huma Quereshi starrer Maharani web series, which was supposed to begin from the first week of January has been put on hold for now. “The shoot was supposed to go on floors on January 6 in Lucknow but we are now hearing that the team is wrapping up the shoot in Bhopal itself,” says Aroon Singh Dicky, a line producer in the city.
Film shoots of Sonakshi Sinha and Shahid Kapoor in Varanasi, Kanpur and Lucknow have been put on hold (BCCL/ @shahidkapoor, @aslisona)
“Shooting of the web show Kathmandu Connection, starring Anuraag Arora, Amit Sial, Gopal Datt and Aksha Pardasany in Lucknow has also been put on hold,” he informs.
“We had been in talks for getting a couple of projects to be shot in Lucknow. Director Subhash Kapoor was supposed to come to UP for his next, but he has also postponed the shoot seeing the Covid-19 cases rising in the state. We were also preparing for a web series shoot in Sitapur but they have all said they will get back on whether they will shoot in the UP for sometime or not,” says Ashish Jain, a line producer in Lucknow.
“In Banaras also, shoot of three web series and the film Hari Up was to begin in the coming days, but all of them have either cancelled or postponed their plans,” informs Rati Shankar Tripathi, an actor and line producer.
Sidharth Malhotra was in Lucknow last year to shoot for Mission Majnu
Although the shooting of the show Rangbaaz 3 and another of a known production house with Bhumi Pednekar is c urrently underway in Lucknow, but they are also wrapping up the shoot as soon as possible, informs Dicky.
Another reason why filmmakers are shying from bringing to their projects to UP at the moment is the night curfew and also the upcoming Assembly elections. “Last night also, we had to wrap up the shooting by 10.30 at night,” he informs.
According to Rati Shankar Tripathi, “The remaining part of the Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer Brahmastra was slated to be canned in Varanasi in December last year but due to the rise in Covid cases in Mumbai it was shifted to January. As there is a wide-spread of Covid cases now, the shooting has been indefinitely postponed. Another film titled Hari Up , featuring Jackie Shroff and Danny Denzongpa has also been postponed, the film was supposed to be shot in Varanasi at the end of December last year.”
The sequel to Huma Qureshi’s Maharani was to be shot in UP in Jan
Similarly several foreign film shootings have also gone on the backburner. According to Gyan Pandey, line producer, “An Indo-French film, The Bride, was scheduled to be shot in Varanasi in the month of February but due to rise in number of covid cases the shooting has been postponed to next year. I was informed of this change in the schedule recently. Similarly, an American film that was supposed to be canned in the month of March has been pushed to October-November because of the same reason.”
“Even in Prayagraj a film starring Aparshakti Khurana that was supposed to be filmed in February has been postponed to April,” reveals a source on condition of anonymity.
In Kanpur too, several projects were lined up for the year, but they too have been put on hold for now. Line producer Shaan Khan was preparing for the shoot of film Akbar in Kanpur but that has been put off for now. “Ikram Akhtar’s film Akbar, which is the sequel of film Baabarr was supposed to be shot in January this year. The film features actor Ashmit Patel, Shahbaz Khan and actress Ankita Srivastava, but due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the state the producers have postponed the shoot. Now we are waiting for the new schedule,” informs Shaan.
Saif Ali Khan wrapped up the shoot of Vikram Vedha in Lucknow in December
Mohammad Rizwaan, another line producer from Kanpur, tells us, “The increase in covid cases has affected the shoot schedule of film, TV and web series in Kanpur. There was an unnamed film of Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor that was supposed to be shot at IIT Kanpur from January 17 but has now been postponed. They will inform us of the revised dates later.”
“A film of Sonakshi Sinha was also supposed to be canned in Kanpur, but that has now been postponed. The production house was supposed to shoot the film in Harbansh Mohal, IIT and in some tanneries at Jajmau. But presently nothing is clear about the shoot,” informs Ajay Mishra, a line producer from Kanpur.
Similarly in Noida, Agra and Dehradun also, film and web series projects that were supposed to take off this month, have been put on the backburner. Arvind Rajpurohit, a line producer in Mumbai, who also takes up projects in UP informs that Covid has pushed several projects ahead of their dates in the state. “A few web series which were slated to begin shoot in UP in Noida, Ghaziabad and Agra this month have been postponed to March now. Also, we had taken up a big film project which was to begin shooting from January end in UP, that too has been shifted to later in the year,” he says.
Mayank Tiwari, a line producer in Uttrakhand though says that since the cases there are not so many, things are better for them for now. “We will be having Akshay Kumar and Rakul Preet shooting in Dehradun and Mussoorie from February 1st,” he says.
In Lucknow too, things seem to be looking up with Sooraj Barjatya supposed to come to the city for a reccee for his next in the first week of February. “We may start shooting for Gadar 2 also sometime in the beginning of February,” informs Dicky.