Location Diaries: The Bed - An uphill task

The majority of Srikanth's upcoming film, The Bed, was shot in Ooty and the first thing he recalls was the biting cold of the Tiger Hills region. "It was freezing and the crew, as well as the crowd watching the shoot, were all dressed in warm sweaters and jackets. But Srushti Dange (female lead) and I had to wear summer clothes. I was in tees and shorts for several scenes, and we were shivering during the takes. I started wishing that actors' costumes were more in keeping with the weather conditions they would be working at," says Srikanth.

An action sequence that was shot at a busy market area became tougher, thanks to the thronging crowd. "The stunts were supposed to be natural, and so, the stuntmen ran into the crowd during the chase. There were scenes that required us to fall in the middle of the crowd and sometimes, we had to even throw props such as flower pots at each other and they would land near the crowd. Fortunately, no one got hurt," says the actor who adds that despite shooting on the roadside, they couldn't stop the ongoing traffic on the road. "As I ran towards the road during the chase, the passing cars stopped and some drivers even yelled at me. But when they recognised me, they stepped out and asked for selfies. We tried explaining that the cameras were still rolling, but they wouldn't believe as the cameras were placed far away. So, I would take photos with them and then go for a re-take to complete the shot."

Running on the hilly roads also came with challenges. "The momentum of running on a slope prevents you from stopping at will, and if you can't hold onto something, you end up falling. Assistants stopped me from toppling over while doing such sequences and I also wore a special pair of shoes to get an additional grip," says Srikanth, for whom being an athlete during school days came in handy. "I realised I was running faster than I should when the stuntmen came to me, out of breath, and requested to run slower (laughs)."

Shooting atop mountain areas meant carrying heavy equipment up and down the steep hills every day. Cognisant of this difficulty, Srikanth says that along with the others, he would lend a helping hand to ease the crew's burden. During one part of the shoot, he was told that a jaguar had visited that same spot the previous night. "It was scary to know that we were shooting in the vicinity of wild animals," concludes the actor. "But hey, we are all okay."