Location Diaries: Damsel in distress 

Krishna finds his role in the upcoming film, Kalari, to be quite different from what he’s done so far. “I play a guy who is paranoid about violence, and does everything he can do to maintain normalcy in his life,” he says. The actor himself had to contend with something extraordinary while shooting for the film in Kerala.

The shoot was going according to plan for Krishna and the heroine, Vidya. They were shooting two songs at the scenic hill station of Vagamon. With work on the first song nearing completion, something most unexpected happened. “Vidya, who was standing ahead, had to look at me with a certain expression. The ground was rocky and had stones strewn all around. All the shrubs around meant that you couldn’t really be confident about your footing,” says Krishna. “In fact, I’d asked her to be careful. We were shooting this bit in the song, and she suddenly lost balance and collapsed on the ground.” 

Hearing her cry of agony, Krishna was the first to react. By the time the director and the crew ran to her, the problem was clear: Vidya had fractured her foot. “She was in tremendous pain, and we didn’t know what to do.” Krishna then channelled his inner hero, as he carried her and ran to a chair. “Just as we were wondering what to do next, she announced that she would finish her shoot,” he says.

As she was in no position to walk to the location, Krishna apparently carried her around. “Eventually, I got really tired. And given she’s the heroine of the film, members of the crew were hesitant about carrying her. That’s when I hit upon an idea,” he says. Upon Krishna’s request, the team brought to the sets a lightweight chair, on which they carried the heroine around. “It was only after the shoot got over that she got medical help,” says Krishna, in astonishment.