Sushmita Sen on shooting 'Aarya 2' amidst pandemic: 'We have become lockdown specialists'

Sushmita Sen's upcoming crime thriller series, Aarya 2 charts the journey of a mother combatting the dark world of crime while protecting her children at any cost. Sushmita will be seen in the role of an 'unwilling outlaw', a 'don' ready to set the screen ablaze with her high octane stunts and create havoc in the lives of criminals. 

Directed by Ram Madhvani, Aarya's first instalment went on to bag an International Emmy nomination for best drama series, and Aarya 2 is set to take the drama a notch higher. Ahead of its release on Disney+ Hotstar on December 10, Sushmita spoke about filming the series in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, its 'fantastic subject', shooting locations and more. 

Sushmita Sen on filming Aarya 2 amidst the pandemic 

The actor says, "We have become lockdown specialists now! We either release during a lockdown or shoot during it, that's our new thing! When we completed the shoot for Aarya 2, on our farewell, we said how blessed we were to be working during the pandemic. There were so many people who had to sit at home, but this is also a nice culmination of teamwork." She also lauded the director and the project's team for following the safety protocols and making the show possible. 

She also reflected on how everyone dedicatedly followed the guidelines, which earlier seemed difficult to pull through. "My God! The very definition of a bubble is now etched in my mind forever. For any crew member to work in a PPE kit, covered from head to toe for 10 hrs a day is seriously tough! And the constant tests, making sure we lived away from our family, the quarantine for 7-10 days before starting to work, all these measures initially seemed difficult." However, Sen expressed gratitude for being able to make something that the audiences deeply loved. 

She concluded by noting that working on Aarya 2 during the lockdown was 'amazing', and she felt delighted to see the "same series move with such pace and difference". Sushmita, who reprises her role as Aarya Sareen will be joined by Sikandar Kher, Vikas Kumar, Mayo Sarao, Ankur Bhatia, Akash Khurana, Dilnaz Irani among others. 

Image: INSTAGRAM/@SUSHMITASEN47