Tahir Raj Bhasin’s “unusual” birthday amid lockdown, will cut cake with family over video call

In the pre-lockdown world, a typical birthday celebration for Tahir Raj Bhasin would mean having the company of his near and dear ones and gorging on delectable cakes of his choice. But since none of this will be technically possible as the world is practicing social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the actor is going to attempt it all virtually!

The Chhichhore (2019) actor , who turns 33 today, says, “It’s unusual. It’s the one day in a year when I look forward to have a lot of friends and family over, and it’s also a cheat day in terms of eating all the cake you can, but unfortunately I am going to have to do it all via video calls. I have different friends in different parts of the country and world, and they’re all going to be doing a video call. And I’ll cut a cake with the family on a video call too.”

Agreeing that technological advancement is the “silver lining” in these times, Bhasin adds, “It will be an unusual experience, but at least technology will connect all of us.” It is also something he’s totally tuned into to keep the prep going for his upcoming projects - whether it is analysing scenes more, rehearsing them more or getting to now the material better. 

Before the lockdown, there was a lot that the actor was looking forward to -- the release of a much-awaited ensemble film, the shoot of a web series, and work on Looop Lapeta, the Hindi remake of German film Run Lola Run (1998), in which he will feature with Taapsee Pannu. But even as everything is on a halt, Bhasin is looking at the positives.

“This is not just one film or one industry. Every industry has been affected. The world is on a pause, and I feel it’s giving people time to breathe. Otherwise, we’d be jumping from one project to another. The only way to look at it is to try and find the positives in it, and try and come out of it stronger. That’s what my focus is at the moment,” adds the actor.

In the post-lockdown phase, Bhasin feels there will be “more appreciation for people-to-people interaction”, “more consciousness in terms of interacting with the environment” as “up until now, climate change was always spoken about, but never before have we seen such a tangible impact on how messing with nature can affect humans”, and “health and sanitisation will be taken a lot more seriously”. 

And while in this contemplative mood, one of these days, Bhasin also penned a poem, collating thoughts that he has been hearing and seeing in his neighbourhood. Explaining the sudden urge to write, he quips, “That’s the thing about being in self-isolation... that things that you didn’t have time for before or never even knew existed within you, start to crop up.”

Ask him what’s the first thing he wants to do after the lockdown ends, Bhasin, whose parents are in Delhi, says, “One is to meet with the family as soon as possible. I haven’t seen them through most of this year. I have a younger brother who is currently in Hong Kong, and one doesn’t even know when he will be allowed back... and the second thing would be to get back on set and shoot as soon as possible, take a minute with the crew to appreciate what we have all gone through and be mindful of the fact that we’re coming back to create something.”

These, he stresses, are “simple things we took for granted in a pre-lockdown world”, but these have become “valuable” now. 

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