Anshuman Jha on cancelling shoot of directing debut: Would've been stuck in UK amid COVID-19

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Actor Anshuman Jha believes he took the right decision to cancel the UK shoot of his film "Lord Curzon Ki Haveli" as he had a hunch that the situation may get worse due to the coronavirus pandemic. Anshuman, best known for featuring in Dibakar Banerjee's "Love Sex Aur Dhoka", will be making his directorial debut with the black comedy-thriller, starring Arjun Mathur, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Rasika Dugal.

The 34-year-old actor said he was through with a technical recce in February and the team was scheduled to fly out to London for shoot on March 16. "But on the March 7, I realised this is going to become something and pulled the plug on the shoot.

At that time everyone was a little upset and thought I was overreacting but I'm glad I took the decision.

"It got really bad in the UK and we would have got stuck. Everything happens for a reason so I am not worried - the film will happen when it is meant to," Anshuman told PTI.

The UK is one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic. The novel virus, which originated in China in December, has claimed over 28,000 lives in the country.

The lockdown in India has put all of his work on hold, the actor added. "I wrapped the dubbing of my show 'Mastram' from home, they had put a mini set-up mid March, so that kept me occupied. Everything else, new and old, is on hold and rightly so.

"We need to be home and follow the orders of the government and I think it will remain like this for a while," he said.

Anshuman currently stars in MX Player series "Mastram", where he essays the role of Rajaram who took the pen name 'Mastram' to write erotic novels in the 1980s.

The actor said he realised the popularity of the character while preparing for the role.

"I had never read 'Mastram' nor had I seen the film so the research phase allowed me to understand the simple, innocent person and why his literature is such an underbelly cult in India," he said.

"I understand it being hushed in the '80s and '90s but why stay hushed in this millennium when it is all about openness and communication with everything being a click away?" he asked.

For the 10-episode series, the makers got intimacy director Amanda Cutting on board to shoot intimate scenes with sensitivity and Anshuman said the process made the actors feel secure.

"My apprehensions were only with how the intimacy bits will be shot because in India we don't really have specialists doing intimacy. The producers addressed that by getting the very best intimacy directors from Canada and Los Angeles.

"So I was at peace about the process," he said.