Akshay Kumar leads 'atmanirbhar' India to step out and work, advises precautions; Watch

Akshay Kumar has underlined the Centre's initiative of an 'atmanirbhar India' through his latest advertisement as a part of the government's COVID awareness campaign. The actor had made headlines for shooting the film outdoors while the country had been under lockdown. The one-and-a-half minute advertisement was shared by the Press Information Bureau on Twitter and captioned, “Our battle with #COVID19 is not over, but we will not be afraid of the virus. We will take all precautions and we are going to move on with our lives”.

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The advertisement shows Akshay in a village setting, coming across a neighbour who asks him why he has ventured outdoors as soon as the lockdown was lifted. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch the virus?” the neighbour asks. “Initially I was afraid, but then I learned that if one takes precautions, catching the virus is unlikely,” Akshay responds.

Have a look:

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The film is helmed by Pad Man fame director R Balki at Kamalistan studio while taking necessary precautions for the health and safety of the actor and the crew. “This is an ad for the health ministry featuring Akshay Kumar about the post lockdown responsibilities of each one of us. We need to get back to work, but ensure our safety and those of others. So at our shoot we did the same. Like getting back to work with social distancing, sanitised outdoor set, disinfectant screen, masks. We got used to it in a few minutes. There was minimal crew and very strict protocols,” Balki told PTI.

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The Maharashtra government recently revised its guidelines regarding the prohibition of film shoots in the state, allowing for certain relaxations in non-containment zones. They have issued a Government Resolution (GR) with detailed guiding principles to resume film production in the state. Meanwhile, following the Centre's lockdown extension in containment zones, Maharashtra has issued lockdown guidelines for the new lockdown-- 'Mission Begin Again' valid till June 30 in three different phases.

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