Bollywood’s biggest names feature in motivational videos as India begins third week of lockdown

Priyanka Chopra, Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar are among the Bollywood stars who have featured in motivational videos as India enters its third week of lockdown.

In a short film titled Family, Bachchan and a group of people can be seen looking for his sunglasses. Eventually, Chopra hands them to him, asking why he needed them in the first place.

“I needed these sunglasses because I do not need them,” he replies. “I am not going to go out of the house for a few days. If they lie around, they will get lost. If they get lost, you all will have to search for them. Now, why should I trouble you all?”

At the end of the sketch, Bachchan reminds viewers to stay indoors to control the spread of coronavirus.

“We all made this film together but none of us stepped out of our respective houses,” he says. “Every artist shot their own section in their own house. No one stepped out of his or her house. You, too, please stay indoors. That is the only way to keep yourself safe from this dangerous coronavirus. Stay home, stay safe.”

He continues: “There’s another reason why we made this film. The Indian film industry is one, we are all one family. But there is another large family behind us which supports us and works with us, and that is our workers and daily wage earners, who are facing great difficulty due to the lockdown.

"We all have come together and teamed up with sponsors and TV channel to raise a fund. This fund will be distributed to our workers and daily wage earners to provide them some relief in these tough times.”

Kumar, meanwhile, also joined forces with his fellow Bollywood stars for a new initiative to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts.

The actor collaborated with Jackky Bhagnani for a motivational song, and stars including Tiger Shroff, Kartik Aaryan, Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana, Taapsee Pannu and Ananya Panday recorded their portions of the video in their homes.

India, which has a population of 1.3 billion people, went into lockdown in March. Reports have since emerged of police forcing some who defied the order to do press-ups while one state governor threatened to shoot them on site.

Donald Trump recently called on India to release shipments of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug identified as a potential treatment for coronavirus, after New Delhi banned exports of the medicine last month.

India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, said the country is facing a “long war” against coronavirus as he led a national candle-lit vigil last week. Modi has faced criticism over the lockdown, which left millions of migrant workers stranded.

Read more

When can we really expect coronavirus to end?

Everything you need to know on supermarket delivery slots

The dirty truth about washing your hands

Which countries around the world has coronavirus spread to?

Listen to the latest episode of The Independent Coronavirus Podcast