Before the surge of second wave, actor Santosh Shukla completed a short film in his hometown Lucknow. He has recovered from Covid and is raring to start the shoot for an OTT-series.
The suave actor was recently in the city, with Ballia-based writer Sujit Kumar Gupta, to finalise details before the shoot of Check & Mate.
“Everything has been delayed due to the second wave. Soon, the production team will arrive for a recce and prepare for the shoot. We want to wrap the six-part series in city interiors as well as in suburbs. But, before that, everyone needs to be vaccinated,” he shares.
Without revealing much about the project, Santosh says he plays parallel lead in the series which has a backdrop of state politics.
In March, Santosh shot for Gulabi Rewri with Lekha Prajapati in Charbagh and old Lucknow city.
“As an artiste I feel it’s my responsibility to promote my city’s culture — be it in a form of language, tehzeeb or anything for that matter. Rewri has been a highlight of the Nawabi city but has never been promoted well. I hope once film starts to stream the world will get to witness this aspect along with a sweet love story,” adds the Desi Kattey and Dabangg-3 actor.
It was around the same time he was tested positive. Talking about his experience he says, “After my shoot and an event in Lucknow, I came to know that I had met someone who had been tested positive. Immediately, I got my test done and by the time I got the report, I had all the symptoms. Unfortunately, I passed it to my mother as well but thankfully we recovered well.”
Besides, he is gearing up for remaining shoot of Bachchan Pandey. “Around 10 days of shoot is left, and I have two days of work to wrap which we will hopefully shoot in July-mid. I’m playing a negative and a powerful character role. Also, working with Akshay (Kumar) was a great learning experience and I am really looking forward for the film to hit screens later this year.”