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Shooting on the edge

Updated on: 20 June,2010 03:57 PM IST  | 
Jigar Shah/Bollywood News Service |

South star Vikram, who pulled off the most strenuous stunts in Raavan, couldn't carry his betaal aka Nikhil Dwivedi

Shooting on the edge

South star Vikram, who pulled off the most strenuous stunts in Raavan, couldn't carry his betaal aka Nikhil Dwivedi

Mani Ratnam's penchant for dramatic visuals (Madhoo under a cascading waterfall in Roja, Ash dancing atop a rock in a river in Guru) has put his actors in extreme situations even if it's just to shoot a song. So when Ratnamu00a0 set most of his latest film, Raavan, in the jungles, his actors had to be prepared for a physically gruelling time.





Raavan has been shot at picturesque locales in Orcha, Malshej Ghat and Hogenekkal, but shooting in these beautiful places has been anything but a picnic for its cast. Besides contending with leeches, mosquitoes and insects of all shapes and sizes, they had to shrug off cuts and bruises too.

Tamil superstar Vikram, who plays Dev in the Hindi version of Raavan and Veera in the Tamil version, says, "We went hiking every day just to reach the sets. The only time I could relax was when we went to Calcutta to shoot a song; I just had to watch Aishwarya dance. Largely, however, we did guerrilla activities."

For Vikram, the shoot got particularly strenuous when, "In one scene, I had to pick and carry Nikhil Dwivedi.

And before I knew, I had a painful catch in my back. It was so painful I couldn't even walk! A physiotherapist was present on the set thereafter. I had to message Mani sir that I would be late on the sets while the doctor did his job."

Though in pain, Vikram was offered no respite because of the strict shooting schedule. "After this injury, I had to enact the fight sequence climax with Abhishek which was shot on a bridge over a river. The fight was a physical one. He wanted us to throw each other around; we were fighting like animals."u00a0 Vikram had to do the fight sequence twice - once for the Hindi version and again for the Tamil film.

Vikram insists that he is no stranger to strenuous shoots. "In Samurai, I was made to hang upside down, thrown into a fire, tied with rubber tubes and beaten with the tube. Pithamagan wasu00a0 shot entirely in the jungle and I had to run without footwear for a scene. I would send someone to clear the field beforehand, yet the thorns would be as long as my fingers! But the difference with Raavan is that every scene is tough -- we are either hanging off a cliff or sliding down a rock."

With an air of hard-won satisfaction, Vikram says : "This is not a film in which you give a shot and then sit in your trailer. But when you see the film, it is all worth it."




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