Shweta Sandhu in conversation with Prittle Prattle News
Shweta Sandhu says, “Hope begets passion! Storytelling during a lockdown.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a reality, and it took time for the universe to seep into this new normal. We all know that unexpected hardships have been as old as the mountains, yet many heartbreaks came into focus. But thanks to technology by our side, we could endure and accept we were not alone in these tough times. There is a saying, “Tough times don’t last, tough people do!” and I am one of those million people who never gave up on me.
Shweta Sandhu, a social media influencer, a blogger, and a video producer. Yes, a multi-tasker by choice. I am nurturing my happy world with an active spirit inside. As I, too, am destiny’s child (hum that song loud, people). LOL !!!
Thinking of destiny, it is our making eventually. Not what falls unexpected in our lap, but what we chose to do about it. And that’s what this lockdown era is all about. And that’s my hopeful story I’d want everyone to remember. I punched the lockdown suppression with my passion, bout after bout, and hope prevailed and came across many opportunities.
Again, I have been ever busy, lockdown, or no lockdown; I invest my work time via my laptop and mobile. So, as usual, one day, while I was busy blogging for a Netflix Series after some brand collaborations on social media. My husband, Avi Sandhu, sent me a mail forward.
He is a writer-director for professional videos and a member of the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA for short). The mail was a short film contest to pep up all members during this COVID-19 era. But the contest had criteria that the film needs to be without stepping out of the house. And while I was waiting for a client video group call on google meet, gold struck me again, as usual. I told Avi, why not write a story on a group video call setup, and why not a gang of girls doing an online party and bang! I finalized the title ‘Lockdown Party’ in the heat of the moment. No one would imagine that while rules locked our residential area, we jumped in joy over the story idea. The adrenaline rush is enough to inch forward, and the clarity of the concept never gave way to a writer’s block moment.
Avi works on his filmmaking hobby mostly on Sundays, and he stretched from the Saturday night to be the voice of the screenplay unfolding in his mind like a smooth brainwave or something like picking a usual wifi signal, lol.
He woke me up on that Sunday morning with a shooting script forwarded on my WhatsApp. I put all the pending notification grapevine and got hooked to the story. I got serious as I lived a life with those girls in the story. My son was worried about seeing me in deep thought. But I knew I have already met the girls in the story, and then I sprung back to hunt for the actors who would live these girls, in all six of them, totally engaging while each one is unique. And they witness something so disturbing that no friend should go through.
I knew the story influenced me and my casting supervisor, Rupan Sarkar, too. He got back to me with auditions clips of various actors across the Hindi speaking belts but sent me without specific name mentions. The six girls had grown so strong in my mind; it was quick to see and relate some actors who could do complete justice to the roles. Rupan, too, got hooked to the shooting script and thoroughly checked out his network across cities. And within a week, he managed to line up what the film truly needed.
And voila! I finalized my six girls, the stars of the lockdown party! They were Aashna Bhandari & Nancy Bansal from Delhi; Nandini Maurya from Lucknow; Sejal Kemwani from Nagpur; And Priyanshi & Hetnanashi Jain from Thane. My bundle of talent. It is a treat to watch these girls perform so flawlessly, and I bet they are the upcoming talent to look out for!
Yes, I am grateful, as these girls did a fantastic job, not just as actors, but they were effortless in filming. Remember the contest criteria of making the film without stepping out of the house. So, despite the vast geographical distance, all my actors focused on filming it as required in the script. It felt so much like the director transcending in spirit and was with them during filming.
Avi briefed the actors almost for 6 hours of video sessions to seep in the creative requirement, the blocking setup, and containing the mood and aesthetics of their character worlds. As I said earlier, these actors are jewels in the real sense as they captured the nuances and made it happen!
All actors in their respective homes shot their parts seeking their family members’ assistance and effortlessly wrapped the entire shoot in a day. Can you believe this? I can’t! Kudos to the girl power.
And then Avi got the edit done, followed by the sound design, and when I saw the first cut, I had a ‘lump-in-my-throat’ moment. I was in peace, and I so much agreed that yes, hope begets passion and vice versa!
The creative process is another dimension altogether, besides having great respect for minute creative details that matter. Yes, it takes time, but I made sure we didn’t run out of time. And on the last day of the contest deadline, I managed to upload the film, our little story from this lockdown era, that will remain the most cherished memory for life!
I thank each who helped materialize this film, and I can’t wait for more & more viewers to spare 10 minutes of their valuable time to watch our team effort.
So go on, guys, watch the LOCKDOWN PARTY link below. Do like, share, subscribe, comment, and please come forward with ideas. You never know we could land up collaborating. Because whatever is going on in your life, no matter how much be the out-of-control scenarios, we could still choose to drive things with passion and help ourselves in unfolding a hopeful future.
LOCKDOWN PARTY MOVIE YOU TUBE LINK
Shweta Sandhu contributes the experience to the reporter of Prittle Prattle News and signs off with a promise that pandemic or no pandemic, there is always a way out because we all are destiny’s children!
LOCKDOWN PARTY TEAM INSTAGRAM USER HANDLES:
