While shooting for the song, Pesayum Esaya, near the Nagercoil harbour, Ulkuthu’s heroine, Nandita Swetha, had a tough time facing up to not one but two fears. “But when you see this romantic song, you’ll never know,” she laughs. A part of the song, featuring her alongside Dinesh, was shot atop a lighthouse near the shore. They had to climb up and down the spiral staircase each time for several days, which was quite exhausting as it was also during peak summer.
Nandita’s woes were compounded by her fear of staircases. “I have fallen down several times from staircases, and suffered many injuries. So I was petrified that I may slip again when coming down the spiral steps!” Luckily for her, her role didn’t require to wear make up. “Otherwise, I would have to go up and down the tower many more times, in order to do touch up,” she adds.
Once up the lighthouse, she had to stand atop the structure and emote near the round railings that circled the tower. The wind blowing around them at that height made her even more scared because Nandita, it turns out, is also afraid of heights. But as the helicam approached, she says she didn’t let her fear show. “Actually, when the camera starts rolling, I forget everything else. That’s the only reason I was able to give those shots,” she laughs.
But it wasn’t all bad. Nandita also had some pleasant memories to carry back from the shoot. While shooting for one scene in the sea, she says she spotted a shoal of exotic fish. “It was almost magical,” she says.