New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Aspiring actor Puneet Sikka always thought that writing a book would be an exercise for the second half of her life but during the Covid lockdown, encouraged by her family she collected the “bones” of a story and little by little, filled it with its flesh, fire and lifeblood.
And now that effort is complete. “Take No. 2020: The Mother of All Retakes” is a tale about the lives of four aspiring actors going into a tailspin in 2020. Puneet Sikka is the daughter of Harinder Sikka, whose “Calling Sehmat” was adapted into the 2018 film “Raazi” starring Alia Bhatt.
One of the characters in “Take No. 2020” Meera has just landed her first big Bollywood film after years of struggling, loneliness and despair. For Dabloo, who is fighting to make ends meet, the year brought both the lowest and highest points of his career.
Aspiring TikTok star Jayesh, unlucky in love and films, might just discover his metier the hard way. Embroiled in #MeToo allegations, the puppet master of the casting couch, Micky Taneja, might be able to find his true love and work again.
As the paths of these strugglers collide, broken relationships give way to unexpected ones, projects are found and lost, and repressed pasts resurface in their shiny new lives. In the face of a real-life climax, each is forced to reckon if they are the hero or villain of their own story.
Decked in acerbic humour and grief, “Take No. 2020” is a story within a story, where reality is nothing except what one believes in.
“… I never thought writing a book was up my alley,” says Sikka, who has performed in theatre, TV and digital commercials, short films as well as a feature film “Nanak Shah Fakir”.
Then, there was the lockdown.
“… I came to Delhi from Mumbai, thinking it to be a matter of days before I returned to the grind (like many others). Days became weeks, weeks became months, and while working on a project, I found myself dreaming up a storyline completely unrelated to the one I was crafting,” Sikka says. PTI ZMN RB RB
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