Actress Raashii Khanna, who recently returned from Milan, Italy, after shooting for her upcoming film Thank You, reveals that shooting in a foreign location, while people back home in India struggled with Covid, upset her. The actress says shooting in Italy was safe because people in the country very responsibly observed protocol. “We were in the middle of the pandemic and I was at first scared to go there (Italy). Once there, I realised people in Italy were very responsible with wearing masks even though the second wave had passed. Very few people were shooting with us in the crew and all precautions had been taken,” she tells IANS.

 

 

“While I was there, the second wave in India intensified and I was constantly reading about what was happening in India. It was upsetting. It felt bad that our country was suffering and we were away. Now we are back and we can’t do much. It’s a helpless situation. We shot for what we had gone for, but it was upsetting humanly. We were constantly thinking about what was happening back home,” Raashii adds. Raashii made her acting debut with Shoojit Sircar’s 2013 Hindi film Madras Cafe, and eventually forayed Telugu filmdom with hits such as Touch Chesi Chudu, Tholi Prema, Venky Mama and World Famous Lover.

 

Talking about how Covid brought obstacles for the production team of Thank You, the actress says: “Honestly, there is always pressure to finish on time but I had a very good team that had taken everything under consideration and they didn’t put any pressure. We were all stressed about finishing the shoot as there were restrictions because we were from India. There were certain locations that were cancelled because we were Indians and there was this thing about the pandemic growing in India that went against us.” She adds: “There were challenges that the production team faced but other than that we were really protected. There were days when we were shooting for 18 hours a day because we didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t like pre pre-pandemic that you could shoot at luxury and anywhere you wanted to. It was more difficult this time.” n