As 2021 began we all have hope in our eyes thateverything will go back to normal with fewer restrictions and only minorchanges. The first two months of the new year were quite easy and calm with less ofcovid and more of work. In March when people were reminiscing old lockdown dayscoronavirus was preparing to hit back with more strength this time. Now, 2021has started to appear like ‘2020 reloaded’.
Bollywood industry was already bleeding after 2020lockdown but with the release of Roohi and Mumbai saga in theatres after awhole year the industry got high hopes. Various other movie releases were plannedafter that such as Chehre, Bunty and Bubli 2 and others. With the sudden surgeof covid cases, filmmakers have decided to push the release dates ahead.
The second wave of the corona is spreading at a high rate especiallyin the states of Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujrat. This time covid wave hasengulfed many of the Bollywood personalities to its trap. Every day we hear anew case arising in the industry.
List of Bollywood stars who became covidpositive:
Ranbir Kapoor
Announcing the news Ranbir’s mother Neetu Singh took toher Instagram handle and wrote, “thank you for your concern and your goodwishes Ranbir has tested positive for covid-19. He is on medication andrecovering well. He is in self-quarantine at home and following all precautions”.The actor is now recovered and was seen performing a prayer service for hisfather’s 11 month death anniversary.
Sanjay leela Bhansali
After Ranbir’scovid report news broke out Sanjay Leela Bhansali was also reported to be covidpositive and was hospitalized too.
Kartik Aaryan
After walkingon-ramp for designer Manish Malhotra the actor became covid positive on march22. Finally after isolating himself for 14 days Kartik reported negative fornovel coronavirus on April 5. The announcement was made by him on his Instagramaccount.
Paresh Rawal
The actortweeted about his covid report on March 26. Paresh Rawal took the first dose ofcovid vaccine earlier and despite that, he was tested positive.
Alia Bhatt
The studentof the year actress informed everyone through her Instagram story saying thatshe is taking all the necessary precautions and is quite well till now.
Aamir Khan
AamirKhan has wiped himself out from social media so one of his spokespersoninformed the public that he has been tested covid positive.
R Madhavan
The 3idiots actor took to Twitter to announced that he has followed his friendRancho’s (Aamir Khan) footsteps and has tested positive for coronavirus.
Bappi Lahiri
Informingabout the singer's health one of his spokesperson said that Bappi Lahiri isadmitted to Breach Candy hospital after being tested positive for coronavirus.
Fatima Sana Shaikh
The actressposted an Instagram story saying that she has lost taste and smell. Earlier alsoshe uploaded a note informing about the same.
Satish Kaushik
The actortweeted, “attention please!! I have been tested covid positive. I would requesteveryone to get tested, who came in contact with me in the last few days. I amhome quarantined. Your love, best wishes and blessings will help. Thanks”.
Aditya Narayan and Shweta Aggarwal
The couplewho recently got married took to his Instagram handle to announce that the duohas tested positive for covid and is in quarantine.
Manoj Bajpayee
The actorwas shooting for his upcoming movie Despatch where he was confirmed as covidpositive. The information was released by his team.
Akshay Kumar
This megastar of Bollywood was also tested positive for covid on April 4 and then onApril 5 he was admitted to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Bhumi Pednekar
On April5, the actress was reported as covid positive. Bhumi was working on her latestmovie Badhaai Ho.
Vicky Kaushal
The Uriactor who recently announced his latest movie’s title ‘Sam Bahadur’ has alsobeen reported as covid positive.
Govinda
Actor’swife Sunita Ahuja in conversation with PTI news agency informed the media thatGovinda has been tested covid positive and he is under home quarantine.
Abhijeet Sawant
Winner ofIndian Ideal season 1 in 2004 Abhijeet Sawant tweeted about his positive covidreport on April 5 afternoon.
These actorsare those who contracted the virus in past one month. Whereas, there are many whowere covid positive back in 2020. Varun Dhawan, Neetu Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan,Abhishek Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aaradhya Bachchan, Rakulpreet Singh,Anil Suri, Wajid Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Genelia D’souza and Kanika Kapoor wereamong those actors who became negative before December 2020.
Covid deaths:
In 2020Bollywood saw many unfortunate deaths two of which were because of covid-19. SingerWajid Khan and film producer Anil Suri lost their lives to covid complications.Wajid Khan was already suffering from kidney ailments, virus deteriorated hishealth more.
Amid theincreasing numbers of covid cases and lockdown-like conditions many filmmakershave postponed their release dates. Earlier, in 2020 few filmmakers decided togo onboard with the OTT platform; movies such as Dil Bechara, Laxmii, coolie no.1, Gunjan Saxena, Chhalaang and Gulabo Sitabo were released on OTTs instead oftheatres. Now even in 2021, the wave is going in this direction. Till now thereis no such news of upcoming releases to shift to OTT but the producers anddirectors have decided to shift their release dates. Bunty aur Babli 2, Chehre,D company and Hathi mere sathi are postponed.
Cinema ownersand exhibitors shared concerns over their business going down without anysolution. Last year also no work was done and now the upsurge seems to affectthis year’s collection as well. Locked theatres have made people shift from thebig screen to their desktops. The future of this glamour industry will be seenin the coming days that whether it will cope with the previous loss or it will gofurther down.