Location Diaries: Chilling on the sets 

Four years after Kappal, Sonam Bajwa is returning to Tamil cinema with the horror comedy, Katteri. It’s a genre she has never done before; she’s also had experiences she won’t be forgetting in a hurry. She talks about one in particular, when she was asked to jump into a freezing lake, while clad in a swimming costume. “I thought I’d just get away by dipping my feet, but director Deekay insisted that I jump in,” she says. “The lake was colder than I imagined. And to add to my woes, it started raining as well. It was almost night, and that didn’t help the temperature either. I asked him one last time if it was really necessary, and because it was an important scene, he insisted, and I just jumped,” recalls Sonam.

Her ordeal lasted longer than she imagined. “I had to be in for about an hour. At first, I stood with the water being waist-high, but then I was asked to go in, till I was neck-deep in water. It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done in my life.”

When she got out of the pool, people on the sets rushed to her with a towel. “But nothing helped. I went to the hotel, and drank warm water. I began feeling feverish, but thankfully, I got better the next day and could resume shooting.”

It wasn’t all hardship though. “For one scene, a comedian named Santhanam (not the popular actor) had to fall off a bike. But each time, something wrong happened. His lungi got stuck once; another time, he fell down awkwardly. Though I felt sorry, I couldn’t help laughing! Looking back at the shooting of Katteri, I mainly remember all the laughter,” she says.