Akshay Kumar is on a roll. He’s taken the fearsome Covid-19 bull by the horns after four months of working from home and has bravely stepped out to resume shooting with almost a vengeance.PeepingMoon.com was the first to report on Friday that the actor was breaking the jinx that the pandemic had cast on the film industry by reporting to Mehboob Studios to shoot for PepsiCo India’s snack Kurkure.
Now PeepingMoon.com has exclusively learned that Kurkure was not a one-off Television Commercial (TVC) that Akshay was making. The actor is shooting an incredible six TVCs in nine days at the same stage in Mehboob Studios. They are all for popular high-end consumer products that Akshay has endorsed before and some new ones too. Yesterday, when a PeepingMoon.com reporter sneaked into Mehboob Studios, Akshay was shooting for Nirma Washing Powder.
The Bollywood superstar, who is a strong advocate of the government’s message to fight the Covid-19 war by resuming work activities after taking precautions and staying safe, was in his vanity van preparing for the TVC shoot. But Stage One of the otherwise desolate Mehboob Studios was buzzing with activity like Bollywood had resumed film shooting full scale. A standee advised all on the set about the precautions that needed to be taken while shooting.
Saurabh Kabra of Collective Art, the producer and company behind the Nirma Washing Powder TVC respectively, told PeepingMoon.com that it was a great thing that Akshay was doing “because the actor was singlehandedly reopening the avenues of income for the daily wage labourers who became jobless and penniless after the lockdown had stopped all shooting of Bollywood films, TV serials and TVCs in Mumbai”.
Unit hands on the commercial also expressed hand-folded gratitude to “Akshay Sir” for giving them their “rozi-roti” by getting them back to work. They were labourers from UP, Bihar and MP who were happy to be back at a film studio.
Meals from the Taj Land End were provided in sealed containers to all. Face masks, PPE suits, and hand sanitizers were also available.
The crows at Mehboob Studio happily picked at the dustbins.
And when PeepingMoon.com left the studio, the security guard at the gate beamed broadly behind his face mask and nodded happily when asked if he was glad that shooting had resumed!