Actor Manoj Bajpayee will narrate the documentary "COVID-19: India's War Against the Virus" in Hindi on Discovery Plus. The documentary will provide a rare glimpse into all the key steps being taken across the country to battle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It will follow both, the global and the Indian timeline, of how the virus spread and will shine light on important developments that have taken place ever since country's first coronavirus victim was detected in Kerala in January.
Shot extensively during the period of lockdown, the documentary maps across the country to tell the story through interviews with subject matter experts, front line workers, patients, migrant workers, and others working tirelessly behind the scenes to arrest the spread of this deadly disease. The film will also highlight the way technology is being used to combat the virus. While Bajpayee will provide the Hindi voiceover for the documentary, writer-director Gautham Vasudev Menon will do the Tamil voiceover.
"Meaningful cinema, meaningful projects have always endeared me, and I believe specials like 'COVID-19: India's War Against The Virus' are relevant not just for today but will continue to engage our future generations as well," said Bajpayee. "This is an important story and needs to be told in an impactful manner. I am proud to be part of this monumental project and target to bring all my experience into play for the narration in Hindi language," the actor added.
Menon said working on the documentary felt familiar as the pandemic has affected everyone. "It is a valiant effort. I could not have asked for a better debut as a narrator, especially in my mother tongue Tamil, and coincidentally this marks my first documentary ever. I urge everyone to watch it along with your family," he said. The documentary, also available in English, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali, will drop exclusively on the Discovery Plus app on July 16.
It will also air on Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel HD on July 20. Megha Tata, managing director-South Asia, Discovery, said the documentary is a way to help Indian audiences understand deeper perspectives on the pandemic. "There's more at work than what meets the eye as new challenges unfold every day with pandemic raging fire; our attempt is to bring it all together with a line-up of prominent experts and officials to provide a comprehensive view for our discerning audiences," Tata added.
Discovery Plus has explored stories related to the pandemic in three other documentaries - "Invisible Killer", "Pandemic Covid-19" and "The Zoo: Covid-19 & Animals".