Filmworld
Prateik Babbar plays migrant worker who walks back home during lockdown

Mumbai, Nov 27
Prateik Babbar, who made his mark in the entertainment industry with his work in 'Dum Maaro Dum', 'Darbar' and 'Brahmastra', is all set for his upcoming film 'India Lockdown', directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. He talked about his role and what makes the film worth watching.
He is seen playing the role of Madhav, a migrant worker forced to walk back with his wife to his village because of the lockdown.
Speaking about his role, Prateik said: "My role is that of a migrant worker whose life comes to a standstill and he is stuck in a dilemma between whether he should try and survive in a city away from home or will it be wise to go back home and live within your means."
On the question of how he prepared for his character, the 'Baaghi 2' actor added: "We had a lot of prep going for this character. I met a few migrant workers and had heart-to-heart conversations with them. I was a keen observer of everything they shared and did. Right from their body language and how they lived their mundane life. All these day-to-day observations gave me insight into playing Madhav."
The actor said that another challenging task was learning the dialect and for perfection, he took coaching and watched movies.
"The dialect was different. It is Hindi but more like Bihari Hindi. The pronunciations were very different. We had a dialogue coach on set who helped us through every word, dialogue, and emotion. That was a little bit about the prep. I also watched reference films, 'Chakra', 'Aakrosh', 'Ankur', 'Do Bigha Zamin' which had characters similar to the migrants. Understanding their struggle and angst was a very important insight into preparing for Madhav."
'India Lockdown' is all about the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on common people. It highlights how many became jobless, the issue of migrant workers while going back to their native places, and sex workers deprived of their source of income.
When asked what made the film worth watching and how people will connect with it, he said: "Why shouldn't people watch 'India Lockdown'? It is an emotion we all share globally and is not just limited to our country. It is a universally shared emotion. It binds us together. 'India Lockdown' portrays feelings and emotions of angst, confusion, anxiety, and restlessness experienced by labourers and citizens across the globe."
"I think coping with the pandemic was not easy. It is a reminder of the times we all experienced darkness together and also came out together and found light. The human spirit was tested but we emerged stronger," he concluded.
Starring Shweta Basu Prasad, Prateik Babbar, Aahana Kumra, Sai Tamhankar, and Prakash Belawadi in lead roles, the film will stream on ZEE5 from December 2.

11 hours ago
59 killed in suicide blast in Peshawar mosque, PM, Army chief reach city

19 hours ago
With leaders in Srinagar, Cong skips all-party meet

19 hours ago
Priority on working classes in upcoming budget: K'taka CM Bommai

19 hours ago
PM Modi likely to visit Mumbai on Feb 10

19 hours ago
'Waste of Supreme Court's precious time': Rijiju on pleas against ban on BBC documentary

19 hours ago
Jubin Nautiyal says his new song with Payal Dev is special as it's animated

19 hours ago
Fatima Sana Shaikh shares pics from Anurag Basu's Saraswati pooja celebration

19 hours ago
In just five days, 'Pathaan' mints a whopping Rs 542 cr worldwide

19 hours ago
Philips to slash 6,000 jobs by 2025

19 hours ago
Mercedes-Benz receives 1st Level 3 Autonomy approval for US market

19 hours ago
India safeguarding farm subsidy, says Tomar on G20 sidelines

19 hours ago
Mark Zuckerberg now puts Meta's middle managers on notice

20 hours ago
At 2 am while feeding my infant, I received notification: Sacked Google worker