Location Diaries: Tanya Hope — Nightmare in Vagamon

This weekly column details the fascinating encounters that often take place on the sets of a film and this week, actor Tanya Hope talks about her experience shooting for Weapon
Location Diaries: Tanya Hope — Nightmare in Vagamon
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Shooting Weapon, which stars Vasanth Ravi and Sathyaraj in lead roles, proved to be a new and invigorating experience for actor Tanya Hope as she packed her bags to travel to Vagamon in Kerala.

Narrating her experience, Tanya says, "This was my first visit to Kerala. I stayed in Vagamon for a month for my portion of the shoot. It was one of the most beautiful places I have been to. Every day, on my way to the shoot location, I saw the most picture-perfect views. Though it would be freezing cold at night, I would sit by a heater and just soak in the most picturesque view of the hills from my room."

Before she could enjoy nature and its beauty, Tanya had to endure many obstacles before reaching Vagamon. "My flight landed at Kochi late in the evening and from Kochi to Vagamon, I had to travel by car. It was very cold and foggy. As our car started slowly traversing up the hilly area, the fog grew thicker. The driver couldn't see more than a few inches ahead and the headlights could not penetrate the thick fog. It was extremely scary," she says.

But help came from unexpected quarters. "Just when we were at our wit's end, another car spotted us. They stopped their car and spoke to us as they too had realised the dangerous situation we all were in. Ultimately, we both decided it was safer to move forward together, inching our way up the hill at a snail's pace, with one car following the other. That way, help would always be close at hand. That's how we managed to reach Vagamon safely that night," she adds, describing it to be one of the scariest experiences she has had.

However, that was not the only scary experience she had during the shoot. Tanya reveals she got lost in the woods during the shoot. Recalling the incident, she says, "Sathyaraj sir and Vasanth Ravi were shooting a fight sequence in a hut in the middle of the forest. My portion was to be shot only after lunch. Since I had arrived early, I put on my headphones and decided to go for a walk." Soon, Tanya lost track of the time and couldn’t find her way back. "I was so engrossed in listening to music, that it didn't occur to me how far away I had come. Soon, I realised I was completely lost."

Tanya turned to her phone for help, but there was no network deep in the forest. "At that point, I decided to stop walking and just stay put in one spot. I knew that by now, someone from the unit would come looking for me, to get me ready for my shot. With full confidence in their abilities, I just sat tight and waited patiently." And sure enough, some ten minutes later, she heard someone calling her name. "I replied back and following the direction of my voice, the unit members  reached me." After a 15-minute walk through the woods, the trio reached the shooting spot safely. "They had been very worried about me and were relieved to find me. We didn't want the others on set to be unnecessarily worried, so we decided to keep this incident amongst ourselves," she says, expressing her gratefulness to the team for finding her.

Hiccups apart, Tanya fondly remembers interacting with her co-stars. During that time, the actor also discovered a few things, "I was unsure how to interact with Sathyaraj sir on the first day since he was a senior in the industry. As soon as the ice was broken, I discovered that he was a voracious reader like me. He also has a vast knowledge of philosophy which we would discuss regularly. From Vasanth Ravi, I came to know that he has an interest in subjects like the power of manifestation, universal energy, and other esoteric philosophies."

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