Suspension of flights from UK: A movie crew in London races against time to get back to India

People wearing face masks walk across the Millennium footbridge backdropped by the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in London, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Starkly illustrating the global east-to-west spread of the new coronavirus, Italy began an extraordinary, sweeping nationwide travel ban on Tuesday while in China, the diminishing threat prompted the president to visit the epicenter and declare: ""We will certainly defeat this epidemic." (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Lokesh Patel knows how it is to be stuck away from home during a lockdown. Like he was stuck in Mumbai when the national lockdown was announced in March, away from hometown Varanasi. Now, sitting in his room in London, Patel fears getting stranded a second time, after the Indian government suspended all flights from the UK, till December 31.

Patel, who is part of production and accounts department of Zabawa Entertainment and Yashi Films, has been in London for over two months. He is with a crew of 60 people, shooting Marathi and Bhojpuri films in London.

"We were to come back to India in different batches, from December 23 to December 26. But now we are scampering to get tickets for the 22nd. Otherwise, we will be stuck at least till December 31, or even more...who knows? We don't want to walk back all the way to Delhi!" says Patel, recounting the mass migration that India witnessed of people travelling by foot, back to their native places during the lockdown.

The suspension of flights from the UK comes into effect from 23.59 hours, December 22, 2020.

The crew is booked on Virgin Atlantic and Air India flights. "It is going to be a logistical nightmare for us. The next few hours are going to maddening," Patel tells Moneycontrol over a WhatsApp call from London.

He and his colleagues are being helped by EaseMyTrip.com, the online travel agency, to reschedule their flights.  "We are thankful that the OTA is not charging any rescheduling fee," he says.

Nevertheless, the tickets are going to be expensive. While the return ticket earlier booked cost Rs 65,000, now just the single ticket back to Delhi from London, is costing the crew Rs 70,000. "But it may still turn out to be cheaper than waiting in London till December 31. Especially, if it gets extended beyond that," says Patel.

While they were originally scheduled to fly directly to Mumbai, now the flights will be via Delhi. Sources close to the development said while the crew may be able to reschedule their flights on Virgin Atlantic, things are tougher with Air India. "They will have to book on any Air India flight to India that is available. It could be Amritsar, Ahmedabad or even Kochi," said an executive.

Apart from Patel and his colleagues, there are scores of others from the Indian movie industry who could get stuck in the UK capital. "There are teams from Punjabi and Malayalam movie industries here too. Also, we hear that a Bollywood movie starring a superstar was just about to start shooting in London," says Patel.