COVID-19 guidelines play spoilsport for Jersey\'s Hindi remake starring Shahid

Gowtam Tinnanuri, who directed Jersey in Telugu, is also directing the Hindi version, starring Shahid Kapoor. 70 per cent of the shooting had been completed before the lockdown was imposed. But now, it’s mired in Government guidelines.

“We have three to four weeks of shooting left to be done at a cricket stadium in Chandigarh, apart from a few sequences elsewhere as a part from our outdoor schedule. However, we need a minimum of 100 crew members to shoot the cricket scenes. The current government guidelines say not more than 45 members will be allowed to work in outdoor schedules,” says Tinnanuri, adding that multiple cameras also need to be fixed in different locations to tap different angles.

Apparently, the makers wanted to resume shooting in June, and Shahid Kapoor was game for it.

“Even as the number of COVID-19-positive cases were growing, Shahid instilled confidence among the crew and gave us a morale boost,” he director said.

“However, we are stuck because of the guidelines on the number of crew, so we are awaiting revised guidelines and hoping for the best,” he said, adding that the challenge would be to do combination scenes with other actors.

“This is a strange scenario (COVID-19), and I can’t ask any actors to come in to work. At the same time, we need to get used to the new normal — sanitize and disinfect the entire location of the shoot the day before, etc. Interesting times ahead,” said the director.

Tinnanuri hasn’t been idle during the lockdown. He has been editing the film. “I tried to edit as much as possible, but again, since a lot depends on my team, I couldn’t ask them to come in to work,” he reveals.