Location Diaries: Last tango in Thailand

This weekly column details the fascinating encounters that often take place on the sets of a film and this week it is Mr.Chandramouli
Location Diaries: Last tango in Thailand

For Mr Chandramouli, heroine Regina Cassandra and co-star Gautham Karthik travelled to Thailand to shoot a romantic number on its beaches. But the shooting itself was anything but romantic, according to the heroine.

The duo had to shoot one part underwater and the remaining on the sand. The heat, however, was apparently so bad that they got sunburnt. “Gautham’s skin began peeling off and he almost got a sunstroke,” recalls Regina. Though she got badly tanned, the heroine says she was saved from the effects of the harsh sunlight by a natural skin care treatment she adopted. “After shoot each day, I came back to the hotel and rubbed tomato juice over my skin. That gave a lot of relief and removed the tan too,” she says, and adds that they tried very hard to not let  the heat spoil the shoot. “We tried to do justice to the song,” she adds.

Regina admits to also having a tough time with the tango choreography by Brinda master. “The shells on the beach pierced my feet. Some of them even had crabs inside them! After a particulary gruelling shot, my feet felt particulary painful. When I examined the underside of my feet, I found gashes that were dripping blood. The sands turned bloody as I danced. We resumed the shoot after I cleaned up my feet and gave myself some well-deserved rest.”

For another part of the same song’s shoot, Regina and Gautham had to shoot underwater in the company of fishes. To get it right, they trained inside a swimming pool first under the guidance of Brinda. “For the shot, we had to hold our breath under water and pretend to sing. Though I love the sea, I had never held my breath underwater before. It was tedious at first. But after training for an entire day, we finally got the hang of it. I started enjoying it by the end of the session.”

Regina reveals that she spent hours shopping for the costumes she wears in the song, along with stylist Jayalakshmi, in Bangkok. “For one part, I had to wear a pair of shorts. In many malls in Bangkok, they don’t allow you to try out the clothes. So I quickly put on the shorts under my dress in one part of the crowded corridor to check the fit! We spent an entire day choosing the costumes for the song and I’m glad people have told me they really like it.”

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