Satish Kaushik: We couldn’t even attend funerals of friends because of pandemic

Mumbai, Dec 22  Veteran actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik looks back at the year that is about to end saying the film industry has been badly affected by the ongoing pandemic.

“The pandemic has affected all of us, even our Hindi film industry. Apart from being out of jobs since the films were not releasing, we have lost so many people from the industry. We couldn’t even attend the funerals of our friends because of restrictions. It was very disheartening,” he said.

Kaushik was present at the event along with the designer Manish Tripathi in support of the making of the world’s largest mask, a Guinness World Record attempt.

Emphasising on the need to wear masks, he said: “One needs to remember that by wearing a mask you are not only saving yourself but also the ones around you. We all should behave responsibly. It is so nice to see people like Manish who has been spreading awareness and doing their bit during the pandemic while we were all locked up inside. Getting rural women to come together to make masks is a wonderful way to empower them.”

The initiative of making world’s largest mask is taken by The Odra Foundation, in collaboration with Uttar Pradesh Khadi and Village Industries Board. The Board handed over two meters of khadi cloth from each of the 75 districts in the state. The collected cloth is being sewn together to make the mask measuring more than 100 square meters to beat the present world record of 72.29 sq. meters.

“We started distributing free masks to community helpers during lockdown. We then realised we also need to support people with livelihood since the pandemic had affected everyone, especially people below the poverty line. Hence we started our journey with rural women where we gave them the training to stitch masks and other products. The largest mask is a tribute to these women,” said designer Tripathi.

Actress Ishita Raj was also present at the event.

The mask will be unveiled in Lucknow on January 2, in the presence of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.