When Shilpa Manjunath heard that Idhaya Raniyum Ispade Rajavum would have kissing scenes, she had second  thoughts about accepting the film. "But when director Ranjith Jeyakodi narrated the entire script to me, I understood how vital those scenes were. I loved my role and said yes," she says. 

What she didn't expect was to have a kissing scene be her very first shot for the film. "I was very nervous as it was my first screen kiss. To add to it, I didnt even have time to get to know and become comfortable with my co-star, Harish (Kalyan)," the actor tells us. But being a professional, she quelled her anxiety somehow and managed give the shot. "Though I looked confident, I was too embarrassed to even check the monitor. I wanted to know how I had done, but didn't know how to ask Ranjith either. So when the take was okayed, I heaved a sigh of relief!"

It was only after the second schedule that Ranjith revealed to her why he had kept the kissing shot on the first day itself. "We were naturally a bit timid for our first on-screen kiss together, that too on the very first day of meeting each other. But that's exactly what the director wanted, because that body language fit in perfectly with the story at that stage," says Shilpa.

Later there were more kissing scenes, but by then, she had shed her inhibitions. "I wasn't nervous anymore and began concentrating on how to give the shot correctly. I was no longer bothered about who was watching."