Monsoons are here. Stepping out when it is raining heavily is a task, not to forget the water-logging and traffic woes. Apart from all these, this is the season for water-borne diseases including fever, cough and cold, another disadvantage amid the virus scare. Sudha Chandran talks about how difficult it is to do a daily soap during this time. She also talks about the problems they face during this season and how they manage the same.

“While shooting in the rain is a beautiful experience, but when you have to shoot for a series or probably anchor a show, which I’m doing right now for Crime Alert on Dangal, which is mostly outdoors, it does become difficult. So as an artist many times it happens that even when you have an hour and a half of shooting left, you are still waiting to finish it as it is pouring heavily. Then, directors have to think of an alternative to coming inside and shooting. At the same time there is a sound problem because sometimes the rains are so heavy that we are not able to even shoot indoors as we are usually live and the audio of an anchor cannot be dubbed.  Then we have to wait till the rain stops,” she says.

Traffic is another issue during this season. “A distance that would usually take us 20-25 minutes, would take 2 to 3 hours given the congestion during this season. There is always an urgency because sometimes we are not able to reach on-call time and at the same time you have to finish work fast so that you can go back home early and not get stuck in a traffic jam or else your family gets tensed. These are the things all of us are going through but I think being in Mumbai for years, most of us are prepared for it. But these are definitely practical problems which we face,” she adds.

Health is also a concern, according to Sudha. “These days we are also scared of getting wet as you might catch a cold, and get down with fever. Initially we all thought of getting wet in the rain and even if we fell sick then it’s fine but now you don’t know whether it’s Covid or regular viral, so that’s the scariest part. We can’t even enjoy the monsoons because of that tension otherwise the moment I used to see rain after my shoots I used to get totally wet but now I have to be very careful. No way can I jeopardise my health and my work. There are so many things that are linked up today because of this pandemic. We have actually forgotten the essence of life because of that and aren’t enjoying it as much as we used to earlier. But, we really can’t do anything as this is a reality and have to face it,” she ends.

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