Prateik Babbar: Risk comes with the territory now, we don’t have much of a choice as actors

Prateik Babbar recently took to Instagram to quip that his year started on a “positive note”. And even though the actor meant that he was infected with Covid-19, professionally, things are actually looking positive for him in 2022. His lineup includes Bachchan Pandey with Akshay Kumar, and Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan with Taapsee Pannu and Prateik Gandhi.

“I hope and pray to God, this year is hectic for all of us not just me. This godforsaken virus, with new names comes up every few months. I hope all of us can stay busy and have a lot of work,” says the 35-year-old, who hopes to resume shooting in a week.

Having battled the virus, ask Babbar if he is now scared of venturing outdoors to shoot again, and he replies it is a risk actors have to take. “We as actors don’t have much of a choice, it comes with the territory now. I think it’s a hit and miss, if you are lucky, you don’t catch it. I was lucky for two years and finally got it. I was shooting throughout the past two years, taking fights, masked up, using sanitisers all the time. Shoots were happening in bubble ike scenarios. Inspite of that, I got it,” he shares.

The actor has now recovered fully, and looks back at the experience of being down with Covid-19 as “something very new”.

He recalls, “I had never felt something like this in any sickness before. I was extremely weak for the first three-four days, with 103 fever. Then it came down and stayed at 100 for a couple of days.These days were torture, I was trembling, shivering. But slowly it settled down. I took the required medicines, ate healthy, looked after myself and my body. I came out a winner,and raring to go.”

However, after testing negative, Babbar took his time to get back to his usual routine. “I went to the gym for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was apprehensive as I felt weak. It was mind over body. It was great to be back to reading scripts, work and life,” he ends.