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EXCLUSIVE: Vevek Upadyay REVEALS the reason for making Pravasi: A Migrants Tale; Says ‘I felt for labourers’
Vevek Upadyay, who is coming up with his first OTT project Pravasi: A Migrants Tale, has opened up on the movie and the challenges he came across while shooting for the film.
The COVID 19 pandemic in India has affected millions of lives across the country. While a majority of us were cooped in our respective houses, there was a section of the society who were forced to travel back home in these trying times. We are talking about the migrating labourers who were seen walking miles during the lockdown to get back home. While these real life incidents touched a million hearts, it is time to watch this heart touching story on the screen now. Yes! Actor-director-writer Vevek Upadyay is coming up with his upcoming web series Pravasi: A Migrant Tale which will narrate the plight of the migrant labourers.
In an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla, Vevek got candid about the project and revealed what made him make a movie on the labourers. Vevek stated that watching the pain of thousands of labourers made him feel helpless and he decided to show their story to the audience. “As an actor or a filmmaker, I generally prefer the characters or stories which a common man can relate to and are real life incidents. We all are aware of the Covid 19 outbreak that was just so shocking and unimaginable for all of us. While going through some of the news channels where they were reporting the worst conditions of the migrants, I felt for them”, he said.
Vevek further added, “Hopelessly they were walking back to their homes carrying luggage’s, small kids and I also saw a pregnant lady in that situation. Day by day things were becoming just so dark where they had no money, no food and not event shelter where some even got beaten by the policemen. It just made me feel what they would be going through and that feeling was helpless”. He then mentioned that’s what inspired him to bring out this story as usually makers want to bring out the glamorous stories but stories like these are to be told. So, he thought of coming up with a concept that we all had been hearing but nobody wanted to tell this story.
Needless to say, shooting the movie during the lockdown and the unlock phases wasn’t an easy task for him. However, Vevek is all praises for his team who managed to keep the momentum along with adhering to the rules. He said, “It was challenging but at the same time, the team that I was working with was so enthusiastic as we all felt the pain that a common man would have gone through being unemployed and away from his or her family. We took up this film when the country was under the lockdown and situations were becoming worst but we kept the momentum and were careful with all the precautions”.
He added, “We had been shooting all day and night with following all the SOP’s strictly. Towards the end where the country was unlocked and people just got out which was a bit of a problem for us as we wanted to follow all the guidelines given by the government. Avoiding all that chaos and showing the lockdown in open areas like highways we could successfully make it through and as said great work is a result of a dedicated team.”
To note, Vevek is known for his stint in shows like Chidiyaghar and Mere Sai. Besides, he also won accolades for his short film tilted as Kachrewali Love Story which was based on the life of rag pickers. While Pravasi-A Migrant Tale happens to be his first stint on OTT platforms, Vevek is hopeful that the movie reaches a larger audience. “It is all about being human where people have gone out of their way to help each other irrespective of the religion. This is what we Indians are of not letting each other fall apart and to hope for things to get better with time,” he emphasised.
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