Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh from Bollywood teamed up for a short film with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, Malayalam actors Mohanlal and Mammootty, Telugu star Chiranjeevi, Shiva Rajkumar from Kannada film industry, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Sonalee Kulkarni belonging to Bengali and Marathi cinema respectively. Titled Family, the short film was released on television on Monday at 9 pm.
Ad filmmaker Prasoon Pandey who directed the short film said there is an "incredible back-story" to how a dozen of India's top actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth and Mohanlal, came together for Family, his virtually directed short film on the importance of physical distancing, in the wake of the pandemic.
Prasoon revealed that Alia and Ranbir shot one another for the film. "The back story is incredible. Amitji's portions were shot by Abhishek. Nick Jonas shot Priyanka's segment, Rajinikanthji's was shot by his daughter Soundarya. Ranbir and Alia went behind the camera for each other. Everyone was so gracious. They didn't come into the frame, but they were simply helping. They were so selfless," Pandey said.
Presenting ‘Family’, a made-at-home short film featuring @SrBachchan, #Rajnikanth #RanbirKapoor @priyankachopra @aliaa08, #Chiranjeevi @Mohanlal, #Mammootty, @meSonalee @prosenjitbumba #ShivaRajkumar & @diljitdosanjh.
Supported by #SonyPicturesNetworksIndia & #KalyanJewellers. pic.twitter.com/menuDz808H— sonytv (@SonyTV) April 6, 2020
Still, there were glitches, and retakes were required, but all the actors cooperated without any hassle. It was harder to coordinate with PeeCee, who is currently in Los Angeles, because of different time zones, but the Quantico star sent in her clips just in time: a day before the final submission of the film. "We started working on the music even before the film was ready. Because the film kept changing with more shots coming in, the music kept changing too," he added.
