Location Diaries: Debut Troubles 

Raiza Wilson is all set to make her debut with Pyaar Prema Kaadhal. But though the model-turned-actor had ample experience facing cameras in the Bigg Boss house, shooting for a film took some getting used to.

On the first day of shoot, Raiza was so nervous she couldn’t eat the entire day. “Food is one thing I absolutely love. So for me, not eating a whole day is something extraordinary and was indicative of the level of my anxiety,” she says. Thankfully, by the second day, she got her bearings and settled into a normal routine.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. One day, as she was walking in her hotel and talking on the phone, she suddenly tripped and sprained her ankle. Troubled by a lingering pain, she informed her director Elan. “He gave me the option to take rest, but I didn’t want to cancel the shoot.” So she landed up for work the next day. However, the painful ankle made her limp every time, which meant she could not walk normally in the office scene they were shooting. Moreover, she couldn’t wear heels due to the swelling and wore only a pair of chappals, which did not match with her costume. “But Elan was very resourceful. He used only mid-level frames and made sure I had furniture near me to hold on to during my shots. That way, we completed the scene, and I took complete rest the next day since it was our weekly off.”

Raiza says she paid great attention to small details for her part. “For some scenes, I used Elan’s mobile phone in the shot. As his mobile had his face as the screensaver, I told him to remove it. In case of a close up, I didn’t want audiences to wonder why I had another guy’s photo on my phone instead of Harish Kalyan’s (the hero).” But though Elan complied and removed his photo, the next day it reappeared. “I had to ask him to change it every day. Till today, why this happened is a mystery to me!