‘A Viral Wedding’: Made in lockdown!

Shreya Dhanwanthary, the star of Why Cheat India and The Family Man, has made India’s first micro-series titled “A Viral Wedding: Made in Lockdown”. The micro-series stars Amol Parashar, Sunny Hinduja, Sharib Hashmi, Aishwarya Choudhary, Aritro R Banerjee, and Dhanwanthary herself. A first-of-its-kind endeavor, A Viral Wedding is written, shot, and edited from start to finish during the ongoing lockdown. The micro-series consists of nine episodes and the duration of each episode would be under nine minutes.

“This is something we shot and created over the past two weeks. So everything has been done during the lockdown. From writing the outline to scripting and screenplay to shooting and editing, etc., all of it has been done by people at their homes while on video and phone calls,” reveals actor Sunny Hinduja who previously worked alongside Dhanwanthary in The Family Man. Interestingly, Dhanwanthary was mentored by the director duo of The Family Man, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (Raj & DK), during the making of A Viral Wedding.

A Viral Wedding tells the story of a social media influencer who is determined to go ahead with her wedding despite the sudden lockdown announcement by the prime minister. “So I was having a conversation with Raj Nidimoru about the lack of realistic stories which don’t have burning cars. In response to this question Raj questioned me back: ‘Why don’t you make something?’ And in that moment I started grappling with the idea to make something myself. Soon a fully formed idea popped into my mind and I ended up writing the outline. I immediately called Sunny and Sharib to ask if they were interested. And both of them said ‘yes’ to it. It’s really a sequence of events that happened over an hour or two on one night two weeks ago,” recollects Dhanwanthary.

A Viral Wedding is a light-hearted attempt to bring smiles to people’s faces during this time social distancing. “We had no idea when the lockdown will eventually come to an end and so we thought of utilizing the time to try something creative. Even though we have shot it with our phones we have tried to maintain a certain level quality. We have some highly talented people working with us on the editing and VFX,” reveals Hinduja who plays the bride’s elder brother. “My character’s name is Nishant. He comes across as a very responsible guy who is sorted and practical in his life. He does things in a very calculative manner. He is protective and caring about his sister. He is married but certain things unfold in his life due to the lockdown,” adds Hinduja.

Like most working professionals the nationwide lockdown has impacted Hinduja’s life in a big way. “I was shooting for two web series and by the end of March one of them was supposed to get completed. But that didn’t happen. Life has literally come to a standstill but I am trying to take it in a positive manner. Thankfully, I am living with my mom and my wife and so we have divided the work between the three of us. The key is that the burden should be equally shared. Also since my mom is here I am getting to spend some quality time with her. She lives in Dubai with my father and so we hardly used to get any time to talk to each other earlier. All of us at one level or the other have been running after things in our lives but finally we have some time to contemplate upon. It’s a reality check of sorts,” avers Hinduja who feels grateful to the medical staff, police, media, and everyone else working round the clock during the lockdown.

Shreya and team are currently working to give final touches to the micro-series which will be released soon.