P O T P O U R R I HYDERABAD THURSDAY 15 JULY 2021

We wrapped ‘Collar
Bomb’ shooting in a safety
bubble, says Shergill
Y
oodlee Films has been in
the news for simultane-
ously shooting their two
feature films, “Comedy Couple”
and “Zombivli” during the pan-
demic. “Collar Bomb” is their
much awaited thriller which also
pulled off a logistically complex
outdoor shoot in multiple loca-
tions during this time. The film
premiered on July 9, 2021 in Dis-
ney+ Hotstar VIP and Disney+
Hotstar Premium. It stars Jimmy
Shergill, Asha Negi, Rajshri Desh-
pande, Sparsh Shrivastav among
others.
The story revolves around a
ticking time-bomb in a quaint says, “Scouting for locations and when things were beginning to
town and the personal history of obtaining permissions to shoot open up, but we didn't let our
police officer Manoj Hesi played was an uphill task because of strict guard down. We stayed in a safety
by Jimmy Shergill. The film was travel restrictions. Since the film bubble and followed all the strict
shot across different locations in is set in a school, it was tough to protocols including regular
Nainital, Chail and Shimla and in- find one that fitted the script spec- screening and testing. This helped

Get over social anxiety

PUJA GUPTA ation or for dealing with stress or
anxiety attacks. When you
you’re feeling anxious.
your favourite music in your liv-
ing room. Regular exercise and
cluded crowd scenes, extensive in-
teraction between cast members
and action sequences.
Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vice-
President, Films and Events,
Saregama, says, “We did a lot of
groundwork to ensure everyone's
safety. We employed trained Covid
ifications. Even convincing school
authorities to allow us to shoot
also became hard for us. We ended
up sending them a blueprint of all
the safety protocols we were plan-
ning to implement. We also prom-
ised the presence of a skeletal
crew. And still, it wasn't easy to
us pull through the film despite
multiple scenes that required us
to be in close proximity with each
other. In normal circumstances,
the film would have been com-
pleted in 35-45 days but due to the
restrictions, it took over 60-65
days. Thankfully, Yoodlee was pre-

M
odel-actor Darasing
Khurana, an active phi-
lanthropist, came up
with the “Pause, Breathe, Talk
Foundation” to help those who
suffer from a mental condition
and to offer mental health serv-
ices to the needy. Khurana
launched the foundation after
the sudden death of actor
Sushant Singh Rajput last year.
The foundation has several
psychologists and psychiatrists
in the panel, who have been help-
ing the needy for over a year. Dur-
ing this time, he realised that
many people suffer from social
anxiety, a serious mental health
condition, where every day social
interactions cause anxiety, fear
or embarrassment. So Darasing,
who’s also a socially active
celebrity along with leading ex-
perts in the field have come up
with five things to overcome so-
cial anxiety. Here’s what they sug-
gest.
Watch your breathing
Breathing techniques are often
recommended to promote relax-
breathe, your blood cells receive Have a gratitude journal meditation really help in keeping officers on the sets to monitor convince parents to let us shoot pared for this eventuality. This is
oxygen and release carbon diox- You must write down the pos- one centred. That’s something safety protocols with the help of with their kids for obvious rea- a complex story that follows a man
ide. When people are anxious, itive things that happened with you must do if you want to over- masks, PPE kits, temperature sons.” trying to win a race against time
however, they tend to take rapid, you throughout the day. One come social anxiety. checks, daily screenings, face The crowd scenes were daunt- to catch an evil mastermind and
shallow breaths from the chest. thing that counters anxiety a lot shields, and sanitisation tunnels.” ing too because local casting was protect innocent lives and every
If you are anxious, focus on your is gratitude. Initially, it might Open up, meet the experts About the logistical complica- tough to pull off with residents un- scene had multiple variables. I am
breathing. Breathe in, hold your look a bit fake and may demand Communication is the key in tions of location hunting willing to step out of their homes. glad we were able to finish the film
breath and count till 5, and then a lot of effort, but you must still all mental health conditions. during a pandemic, he “We shot the film safely and on time,” says Shergill.
breathe out. If you do this for 70- do it. Initially, your negative Sharing your feelings and speak- after the The film explores director
80 times, you’ll definitely feel thoughts might be too overpow- ing to people around you is per- first lock- Dnyanesh Zoting's favourite neo-
calmer. ering, but you must understand tinent. Listening is also impor- down noir genre through a study of hu-
the negative thoughts are already tant at times. Imagine a n d man impulses and motivations
Behaviour modification is a there within you, so you must something is triggering your just around a crime. He adds, “The film
must cultivate thoughts of gratitude to anxiety, which is a result of needed certain backdrops, be the
Remember, nothing will balance things out. negative thoughts about you forests, a school, or the particular-
change around you! The social that come to your mind ities of a hill town to indicate the
situation will continue to remain Sweat it out again and again. If you shift perfect mix of action and mys-
the way it is. So, the best way is to When we feel anxious, our the focus of your thoughts tery. Thankfully, everything
plan thoroughly for a social situ- body is primed for fight or flight, towards someone else, that fell into place. I am also
ation that makes you nervous. and releases the stress hormones also helps in containing the excited that Jimmy
For instance, if it’s about going on cortisol and adrenaline; this can anxiety. Shergill is returning to
a date, you should plan for each cause elevated blood pressure, a Also, make sure you reach cop’s avatar after many
and every aspect of it. The idea is racing heart, and sweating. Exer- out to a psychologist and a psy- years with Collar Bomb.
to recognise what triggers your cise can help us burn off the neg- chiatrist. Professional guidance It was wonderful to shoot
anxiety and try to minimise the ative energy that, in our more is a must if you want the best re- the film with him regard-
activities that might trigger anx- primitive days, would have been sults. It’s imperative to use these less of the challenges we
iety. Also, if you feel socially anx- used either fleeing, or fighting, a two services simultaneously faced.”
ious and you want to work on it, threat. You could take a brisk rather than giving importance to
you must start going out with walk, put on your running shoes one and skipping the other.
people who are close to you and and hit the tarmac, or jump Medication and therapy are
who will take care of you when around to an aerobics video or equally important.
Preity Zinta’s
Sarpatta Parambarai takes you back to 70’s words of
duced by NeelamProductions & K9 Studios. The
film features an ensemble cast including
different role for me from my previous
movies and I believe it is going to be a career
wisdom on
DusharaVijayan, John Kokken, defining film for me. Just like the sport,
Kalaiyarasan,Pasupathy, John Vijay and San-
tosh Prathap in pivotal roles.
‘SarpattaParambarai’ promises to deliver a
thrilling experience with action sequences
slow motion
Set in the 70’s, SarpattaParambarai is not
just a regular sports movie about boxing. It
also showcases the culture, and lives of the
and a storyline that will keep you on the edge
of your seats, the trailer of the film will give
you a brief sneak peek on what is about to
A ctress Preity Zinta shared a few
words of wisdom on slowing
things down, with a slow-motion
boxing clans that existed in the North come on the 22nd July.” video she posted on Instagram on
Madras. At the centre of the story lies two ri- “ ‘SarpattaParambarai’ is a period sports Wednesday. In the clip, she is seen
val clans Sarpatta and Idiyappa, who are con- drama that reflects the raw passion and en- wearing chunky sunglasses, and a
stantly locking horns in a duel for the pride thusiasm for boxing which wasn’t just a sport floral tube top. “Sometimes you just
of their respective clans. The film, with a back then but also a sort of culture & tradi- have to slow things down… Matlab
backdrop of sports, illustrates the nuances of tion that demanded repute and respect. With (slow motion main),” she wrote as
an era that was rife with cultural and societal this film, I want to tell the audience that caption. On screen, Preity was last

G et ready to witness the golden era of the

70s and ride with the punches as Amazon
Prime Video unveils a sneak peek into the world
of “SarpattaParambarai!” The versatile actor
Arya in the lead, the film is directed by criti-
cally-acclaimed director Pa.Ranjith and pro-
changes.
Talking about the film, actor Arya shared,
“I have gone through a major physical trans-
formation for this film and done a rigorous
amount of training to get the physicality of
techniques of a boxer right. It is a completely
there’s so much more to Madras that they are
not aware of. SarpattaParambarai will take
them through the culture and life of these
seen on screen in the 2018 film,
"Bhaiaji Superhit". The film
marked her comeback after a
clans and their stories. I hope audience will seven-year break and also stars
appreciate our work and the story of ‘Sarpat- Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, Ar-
taParambarai’.” said Director, Pa Ranjith. shad Warsi and Shreyas Talpade.

MX TakaTak turns one NTR’s ‘EMK’

A to be kept on hold?
short video platform MX
TakaTak turns one and is
celebrating milestone
achievements like growing to a
large and diverse user base with
over 150+ mn monthly active
users, a community of over 48+
mn unique creators, and a
mammoth 355Mn+ Installs in
this short span of time. A mar-
ket leader in its segment, the
app has constantly offered bud-
ding talent a chance to hone
their skills of content creation
and has been driving exciting
campaigns to amplify user-gen-
erated content. From launching
an INR 100 Cr Creator Fund to
announcing the MX TakaTak
Launchpad Program, these cre-
ator-first initiatives have been a
testament to its vision of nur-
turing emerging artists.
Speaking about completing a
year, Karan Bedi, CEO, MX
Group says, “The last year has
seen phenomenal growth for
this platform and we’ve suc-
cessfully built an ecosystem of
amazing influencers and
celebrities who keep our large
user base entertained with en-
gaging content across multiple
categories. We’ve garnered in-
terest from advertisers across
categories and we’re delighted
to join hands with renowned
brands like PayTM and Pepsi to
curate entertaining branded
hashtag challenges at such a
nascent stage of our monetisa-
tion journey. In the months to
come, we will continue to invest
in finding and enabling great
creators, further investing in
our recommendation engine
and bringing our user's state of
the art features that will en-
hance their content creation
and consumption experience.”
As part of its celebrations,
the young brand has an-
nounced an extensive UGC tal-
ent hunt campaign-
#MainBhiSuperstar, providing
an opportunity for creators to
fulfil their lifelong dream of be-
coming a star. As part of this
campaign, three creators will
get a chance to star in an MX
Player Original.
Speaking about the same,
Karan added, “#MainBhiSu-
perstar is our small way of giv-
ing back to this large commu-
nity of aspiring creators by
making their dreams a reality
and gratifying them with a
chance to feature in an MX
Player Original. MX Player is
one of the biggest stages for the
Indian creative ecosystem and
this initiative will not only
drive synergies between both
platforms but also serves as a
unique opportunity for the in-
credibly talented the brand
community to enter the main-
stream as actors.”
Slated from 7th to 31st July,
the #MainBhiSuperstar cam-
paign will handpick outstand-
ing talent from the country
wherein creators would be re-
quired to showcase their skills
by enacting any movie scene of
their choice. The content
would be judged based on their
15-second video submission
where an array of emotions is
expressed right from happiness
to anger to romance etc.
N TR’s TV show has landed in big trouble owing
to lockdown and other issues. NTR had
announced before lockdown that he would be
hosting “Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu”, a reality
quiz show for Gemini TV.
Due to the second wave of the Covid-19, the
team had realized that it would be impossible for
them to shortlist contestants from various parts
of Telugu states. It is also not possible to shoot
in the current circumstances. NTR also
contracted Covid-19 early this month.
Although NTR has now recovered from the
deadly virus, the team has decided to hold
the show for the time being. There are
rumors doing rounds that the show has
been shelved.
Some reports say that “Evaru Meelo
Koteeswarulu” is likely to be
telecast in August if the
second wave of Covid-19
subsides by then. An
official