"I have been a total lockdown bum," says Swara Bhaskar who has taken up animal rescue during this time. "I have rescued three animals—a dog, a baby kite, and a kitten. While I handed over the kite to a wildlife rescue NGO, I adopted the dog and kitten, in addition to the three cats I already have. Taking care of them makes me feel like a single parent."

Like others in isolation, Bhaskar has also taken to OTT platforms to binge-watch random sit-coms and series. On the top of the film buff's list is Jafar Panahi's Offside. "If you are fond of world cinema, this Iranian film is something you shouldn't miss. Iran didn't allow women to enter the football stadiums, back in the day. So, a group of girls dress up as boys to watch a match. It's a lovely film," adds Bhaskar.

Stills from Offside and Searching for Sugar Man

Next on the list is Searching for Sugarman says the Veere Di Wedding actor. "The documentary is a beautiful depiction of a failed American musician, who was rumoured to be dead, and how two fans try to discover his whereabouts. There is a lovely twist in the end," adds the actor.

Bhaskar also suggests watching Netflix's After Life. She says, "Netflix has already released the second instalment of the series. The 1995, BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice into a six part series, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth is also a must-watch."

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The 'Bois Locker Room' controversy has taken the country by storm. Leaked screenshots of a private Instagram chat group comprising teenage school students from Delhi has shocked people to the core. Many of the boys in the group were allegedly seen sharing photos of underage girls, objectifying them, and planning gang rapes.

Bollywood celebs like Richa Chadha, Swara Bhasker and Chandan Roy Sanyal have spoken out about the issue. Here's what Richa tweeted:

This a multi-faceted problem. Because everyone is still squeamish about sex education in our populous/moralistic country, teenagers are confusing porn for sex education! And now data is free. How dangerous! This will explode in our faces in the next five years sadly,I reckon. https://t.co/mPVaXPOe6d

— TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) May 5, 2020

Swara Bhasker, too, spoke about the toxic masculinity that still runs rampant in the country. She tweeted:

#boyslockerroom a telling tale of how toxic masculinity starts young! Underage boys gleefully planning how to rape & gangrape minor girls. Parents & teachers must address this with those Kids.. Not enough to ‘hang rapists’ .. we must attack the mentality that creates rapists! https://t.co/Jw4cFQ9gXM

— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) May 5, 2020

Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal wrote, "15-year-old School Boys from distinguished Delhi schools talk about raping the girls in their own class. Shocked to the core!!"

Amyra Dastur emphasised that a line had been crossed. She tweeted:

These are people’s daughters & sisters. I understand being young & trying to act cool but there’s a line which has been crossed. girls are afraid & traumatised. threatening rape is a crime & shud b treated as such no matter how old the boys are! #EnoughIsEnough #boislockerroom https://t.co/dmbdwDSnOG

— Amyra Dastur (@AmyraDastur93) May 5, 2020

Dastur wrote in another tweet, "The boys don't need sex education. They need to be educated about equality, consent & DECENCY! Education about what RAPE actually is & a new perspective on girls & women! This isn't about Sex Ed, it's about a superiority & misogynistic chain of thought that needs to be broken."

Sonam Kapoor shared on her Insta story a post by model and British actress Jameela Jamil.

According to a report in IANS, the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police has detained a 15-year-old student of a prominent school in South Delhi in connection with the Instagram chat group. Twenty two other boys have also have been identified.

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With shutters across city gyms pulled down, Bollywood's top brass has returned to its nutrition manual to micromanage each calorie consumed, apart from attempting every iteration of body-weight workouts that can be fancied. But, Swara Bhasker has been unperturbed about weighing scale fluctuations as she happily indulges in copious amounts of carbs.

"I have been utilising this time unproductively," she laughs, adding that the weight gain could well aid her for her next film, the Krishna Sen biopic, which sees her impersonate a woman who weds at least two women under the guise of being a man. "I have been eating carbs and sugar, and am taking to midnight junk-food indulgences. More than kilos, I must focus on adding muscle mass around my torso, shoulders, and arms. However, no one knows how long this lockdown will last. I suppose we'll start work by the end of this year."

An array of developments led to filming being deferred from the close of 2019, when it was to initially set to roll. "First, our director was busy with projects. Then, we needed to spend time to crack a good script that we were satisfied with. And finally, I had to wrap up my acting commitments before jumping into this," says Bhasker, who is also co-producing the project.

Unwilling to join the bandwagon, Bhasker isn't considering a direct-to-OTT release just yet. "We don't know what the world will look like after this pandemic ends. So let's wait and watch," she says, addressing the decision taken by several filmmakers to take the digital route.

In the meantime, she is neck deep in work, trying to create a noteworthy script of a story that has piqued her interest. "I've been trying to crack this since a year," she says, without revealing details.

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