- Stars actors Shweta Basu Prasad, Prateik Babbar, Aahana Kumra, Sai Tamhankar and Prakash Balewadi
✍️By Special Correspondent
ZEE5, India’s largest home-grown video streaming platform, is set to premiere its latest original film ‘India Lockdown’ on 2nd December. Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, the direct-to-digital movie, is the first Hindi feature film on covid pandemic and its repercussions on the people of India. Written by Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah with Madhur Bhandarkar, the ZEE5 Original Film stars Shweta Basu Prasad, Aahana Kumra, Prateik Babbar, Sai Tamhankar and Prakash Balewadi in lead roles and Hrishitaa Bhatt in a cameo.Produced by Dr. Jayantilal Gada of PEN Studios, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Bhandarkar Entertainment and Pranav Jain’s P J Motions Pictures, India Lockdown had its global premiere at IFFI Goa on 21stNovember and received an overwhelming response.
Shot in 2021, the film narrates four parallel stories of disparate characters who are catapulted into an unforeseen dramatic situation instigated by the lockdown due to the corona pandemic.As seen in the trailer, Shweta Basu Prasad plays the role of Mehrunissa, a sex worker in Kamathipura in Mumbai who is forced to adapt to the changes brought about by the lockdown and experiment with new ways of doing her business online. Aahana Kumra plays Moon Alves, a pilot who is used to soaring high in the sky but is suddenly grounded for months together and who for the first time realizes what it is like to have her wings cut.
Prateik Babbar as Madhav and Sai Tamhankar as Phoolmati are migrant workers who lose their bread and butter in the pandemic and are left to starve or to walk back home as trains and local transports are shut. And lastly, Prakash Belawadi as Nageshwar, an aged man who is stuck in a different city than his daughter at a critical time of her life.
Scared and helpless, will all of them survive the uncertainty of India Lockdown?Amit Agarwal, the founder of Adarsh Telemedia, hosted the Kolkata Premiere of India Lockdown for his friend and director Madhur Bhandarkar. Amit in the past has backed films like M.S. Dhoni –The Untold Story and has produced films like Simran starring Kangana Ranaut and Astra (Bengali).‘India Lockdown’ is all set to premiere exclusively on ZEE5 from 2nd December 2022.