Anubhav Sinha to produce anthology based on COVID-19 pandemic
Mumbai: Director Anubhav Sinha has collaborated with filmmakers Sudhir Mishra, Hansal Mehta, Ketan Mehta and Subhash Kapoor to back an anthology based on stories around the coronavirus pandemic.
To be produced under his banner, Benaras Mediaworks, the "Thappad" director said he thought of documenting the crisis after Sudhir's driver contracted COVID-19 and was unable to get a bed at hospital.
Subsequently, Anubhav said the loss of close friend and actor Irrfan Khan, who passed away on April 29, and the challenges of attending his last rites hit him harder.
"What better way to do it than different filmmakers looking at different things? Sudhir's father passed during COVID. We lost Irrfan and couldn't not even go to his funeral. Tigmanshu had to fight the cops to go and said 'Irrfan is my brother, I will go.'
"All these things were disturbing. I thought these should be recorded. I spoke to my friends who agreed to do this and that's how the idea behind it began to formalise," Anubhav said in a statement.
The 55-year-old director said the project offered an opportunity for all the filmmakers to team up for a "good collaboration".
"There's one story by Subhash, one by Hansal, one by Sudhir, one probably by Ketan. These are filmmakers that I believe that the so-called 'Bollywood' has largely ignored," he added.
Shedding light on each filmmaker's story, Anubhav said, while Hansal's story is "comic and quite tragic", Mishra's film is political.
"Subhash's is also political, but in a different way. I am still struggling with my story - I want to tell an atmospheric story, which is about fear. I live on the 20th floor and I can see a very large expanse of Mumbai from my window.
"It has suddenly started looking like a deserted, dead city. And Ketan is saying 'main dekh ke batata hoon' (I will tell you in a while).'"
The yet-to-be-titled anthology is scheduled to be released in 2021.
Anand Gandhi, best known for "Ship of Theseus", is also set to direct a pandemic-based film titled "Emergence".
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West Asia crisis: MEA establishes control room to assist Indians
New Delhi (PTI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has set up a control room to assist those affected by the escalating crisis in West Asia.
The MEA has said almost one crore Indian citizens live in West Asia and their safety and well-being is of "utmost priority" for New Delhi.
As the Iran-US conflict widened, the Indian embassy in Iran moved hundreds of Indian students from the Iranian capital of Tehran to safer locations.
"A Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region," the MEA said on Wednesday.
"The Control Room can be contacted from 9 am to 9 pm at: 1800118797 (Toll Free) +91 11 2301 2113, +91 11 2301 4104, +91 11 2301 7905," it added.
The US launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Following the military offensive, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks mainly targeting Israel and American military bases in several Gulf countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The MEA on Tuesday noted that almost one crore Indian citizens live and work in the Gulf region, and their "safety and well-being is of utmost priority."
"We cannot be impervious to any development that negatively affects them," it said.
The MEA said New Delhi will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation and take relevant decisions in the national interest, adding it is in touch with the governments in the region as well as other key partners.
A Special Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region. Details are as below ⬇️
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 4, 2026
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