Mumbai Diary: Expect a feature film on COVID-19 this year

Scriptwriters I know in Mumbai are racing against time to complete scripts and register them online with Screenwriters Association of India. Not surprisingly, all of them relate to the havoc created by SARS-CoV-2 virus, which led to the COVID-19 disease globally.

As and when one of these screenplays turns into a movie or an OTT series, who will be the protagonist, I have often wondered. Will she be a bespectacled doctor? A couple? A mid-level officer of Mumbai police? An investigative photo-journalist or the young daily-wager who walked a thousand kilometres to get back home? Who will be the hero and who the villain?

A month and a half ago, most Mumbaikars were dismissive of the virus. There were more cynics than supporters for ‘clapping’ the virus away. WhatsApp and Facebook jokes had then come flooding in. Walter, an old friend, who runs a shop for electrical items in Colaba, called to inform that the virus was a biological weapon developed by the Chinese for world domination. I took it in my stride as Walter spends long hours watching films and web serials like ‘Madam Secretary’ and ‘Fauda’.

But in these past few weeks, in my circle words such as ‘wet market’, ‘Wuhan’, ‘bat soup’ and ‘pangolin’ have become part of our common lexicon. Anuj, who works in the marketing department of a well-known OTT platform in Mumbai, confided that more viewers were now watching pandemic movies on OTT platforms.

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On Bengali New Year’s Day on April 14, a venerable bankerwho knew I was alone in the city WhatsApped a virtual invite for a lockdown veg-thali meal.

‘For me to get you over to my place for this celebratory meal is to endanger your person. To avoid that, I am taking the path of least resistance. As my spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and I have no doubts about my destination any longer, look forward to seeing you there, in Hell, after the lockdown is over…”, he wrote. You can’t take funny bones out of Indians, I reflected.

Octogenarian Shivshankar Gada, owner of the local Kirana shop ’Lakshmi Stores’ reminisced that he had seen the city during wars, epidemics and intermittent violence in the past, when the city was bruised and even beaten. But he had never ever seen such empty streets in Mumbai for such a long period. Unfazed by the virus, the old man with his 60-year old son have kept supplying the neighbourhood with provisions. Fear has always been a part of the city’s psyche. But Mumbaikars do take fear in their stride.

Since I stay alone, I have been ordering food through Zomato and Swiggy and the delivery boys have never been late or kept me hungry or asked for tips. I say this with awe and gratitude because I am an owl and most of my food orders are placed post-midnight. I have never ever starved because of non-delivery.

I don’t watch television news any longer. But those who do tell me they have been bowled over by the composure, compassion and maturity of the Maharashtra chief minister. His calm handling of the crisis gave people confidence. One cannot say the same thing about the nation, I reflected.

A seasoned journalist called the other day and quipped, ‘This flattening of the curve in the entire country is resembling the emperor’s new clothes, it is non-existent but we have to imagine it’s there,’.

I cannot claim to be a child anymore and memories of the blackout and night curfew during the 1965 war with Pakistan, when we feared that bombs would rain on the houses. But nothing happened.

All these years later, the fear has returned and it is a lot more than what we felt in 1965. I must confess I am also more apprehensive this time of the country’s preparedness and ability to fight the virus and am nervous about the uncertainty, insecurity and impoverishment which appear round the corner.

I hope I am wrong.