Sobhita Dhulipala, Ronnie Screwvala's Sitara, scheduled to be filmed in Kerala, postponed amid coronavirus scare

The shooting schedule of Sobhita Dhulipala’s forthcoming film, Sitara, has been delayed after the detection of three positive cases of coronavirus in Kerala. The film, bankrolled by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies, was scheduled to go on floors from 12 February in the state, reports Mirror.  [caption id=“attachment_6712151” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sobhita Dhulipala. Image from Facebook[/caption] Vandana Kataria, who is helming the film, confirms the news to the publication. “We had been in and out of Kerala for our technical recce and were supposed to return in two days. My art design crew was already there from 30 January but flew back on Wednesday,” she says. She adds there is a back-up plan in place for the delay but she does not divulge any details about the same. This is not the first instance where a project has been stalled owing to the coronavirus outbreak. According to Bollywood Hungama, Nagarjuna and Saiyami Kher-starrer Wild Dog, which was supposed to be shot in Thailand, has also been postponed. “I was training in Mixed Martial Arts over the past month for the action sequences, and was looking forward to the long schedule in Thailand. But they have postponed the shoot as they didn’t want to take the risk with such a big crew,” Saiyami said in a statement to Indo-Asian News Service.  Meanwhile, Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has declared the epidemic as a “state calamity,” and the health department has issued advisories to the education, tourism, and the animal husbandry departments on taking precautions. Sitara sees Sobhita play a spunky, independent girl, who acknowledges a particular flaw within her, and sets out on a correctional path. This journey leads her family to also face their demons, and redeem herself in the slice-of-life film. It has been penned by Vandana and Sonia Bahl. Hussain Dalal (from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and _ Baaghi 2 -_fame) has written the dialogues of this film. (With agency inputs)