Harshvardhan Rane: Taish worked as an anti-COVID drug for me

Harshvardhan Rane

The pandemic has compelled everyone to think out of the box - from conducting remote shoots to seeking digital premiere of movies. Harshvardhan Rane has taken it a notch higher - the actor, who had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, dubbed for Bejoy Nambiar's Taish from his hospital bed.

In his bid to meet the October 29 deadline, Rane recorded a few lines on his phone, at the director's behest. "I made a small studio in the hospital with 12 blankets when I was in the ICU," explains the actor, adding that the medical staff initially found his sudden requests for blankets rather worrisome. "The nurses felt I had lost my mind when I told them it was to create a small dubbing studio. I made a little den to minimise the external noise to ensure clarity. They had to work on the sound professionally after I sent them the recording. Taish worked as an anti-COVID drug for me."

A firm believer in doing his homework, Rane got into the skin of the character before shooting for the ZEE5 project. "I had locked myself up [to channel] the character's rage," says the actor, who had then temporarily shifted his base to the outskirts of Mumbai. He also credits Nambiar for giving him a free hand to interpret his character. "Bejoy has this great quality of not spoon-feeding his actors. He also acknowledges the audience's intelligence and serves [content that gives them a window] into his thoughts." Taish has been developed in two formats - a two-hour film and a six-part series.

Ready to bounce back to work, the actor will resume shooting for the Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey-starrer Haseen Dillruba later this month. "We were supposed to finish [the schedule] in March. We returned from Haridwar, and in the next 24 hours, the lockdown was announced."

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