"COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax and what we are seeing is the part of a bigger controversy," a friend told me once.

Even after witnessing numerous deaths, some of who he has known personally, he refused to believe that COVID-19 is for real until the day he faced a personal tragedy.

It was only after he himself was infected with COVID-19 and after having lost his 4-month-old pregnant wife to the infection, he realised the COVID-19 pandemic isn't a hoax and deaths aren't fake.

Today, he runs a COVID-19 awareness camp where he tells people about the precautions one needs to take to keep oneself safe from the infection.

Some lessons are learnt the hardest way and these lessons teach us the biggest lessons of our lives.

The above story is fictional and is roughly the plot of an Assamese short film The Covidiot, directed by Prashamit Chaudhury and starring Phillips Neog, Prerena Saikia, Javed Akhtar, and Prashamit Chaudhury.

Even though the story is fictional, however, we can't deny the fact at some point in time since the pandemic began, we have come across such a person at least once.

Or maybe we still know about the existence of such a person who still believes COVID-19 to be a hoax- even though he and his entire family have already been vaccinated.

Covidiot- a term coined by adding the two words COVID and idiot- speaks profoundly about the transition of a man from being careless to becoming disciplined and also about the lesson he learns the hardest way.

Phillips Neog in the titular role has done a commendable job. He has the potential to become a fine actor someday.

Even though Prerena Saikia doesn't have any dialogues to deliver, however, her expressions in the tiny role is worth mentioning.

Javed Akhtar as the masked passerby who gets into an argument with Neog as the latter was not wearing a mask and ignoring the COVID-19 threat, has also done a commendable job.

Prashamit Chaudhury, on the other hand, has no role to play and we only get to hear his voice over the phone.

However, his direction and eye for the minute-to-minute details are intense as he is able to tell us with ease how Neog's character was infected with COVID-19, which led to his wife's eventual death.

Even though The Covidiot was released in January this year, however, its significance stands upright even today and you can watch it here.

Don't be a Covidiot, wear a mask and protect yourself and also your family.

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