Shooting for the SJ Suryah-starrer Kadamaiyai Sei was a challenging experience for actor Yashika Aannand, who essays the role of a married woman and a mother to a 5-year-old for the first time in her career. “The role required me to dress in sarees and look feminine. I had to speak very expressively too, especially with my eyes and this was tough since I’m a calm person,” says Yashika. On the first day of filming, she had to enact a homely scene. “I had to complete household chores and send off my child to school. I had no experience with kitchen chores, and naturally, I was a tad nervous, fumbling with things at first. Somehow, I recalled what I had seen my mother doing and pulled it off.”
She was also nervous about acting opposite SJ Suryah. “He is such a powerhouse performer, and I was worried about matching up to his energy and pace. He sensed my apprehension and put me at ease by chatting with me right on the first day. He also shared instances about how nervous he’d gotten in the past while doing films in other languages.”
Shooting on a beach, one particular day, was riddled with challenges she barely foresaw. “The sunlight was stark and it got hotter as we continued to film a long scene. The additional skimmers used in lighting, which have foil sheets on them, would reflect the bright sunlight, making it impossible to keep my eyes open. The director kept telling me to communicate expressively with my eyes, but there I was squinting uncomfortably with the harsh light hurting my eyes. It was with great difficulty that we managed our scene that day.”
Another challenge came in the form of a stunt sequence shot in an old building. Yashika had to stand blindfolded, with a thick rope tied across her torso, and her hands tied behind her to a pillar. “I had to stand in the same position for three hours continuously since the person in charge of tying me up had made a mistake. Instead of tying my body with one rope and my hands behind me with another, he had tied me up fully with just one rope. Had they untied me during breaks, it could have caused continuity errors, and I had no choice but to stand in that painful position for hours. By the end of the shoot, my hands and legs were left stiff and my shoulders were aching as well.”
Everyone on sets was empathetic, though, with assistants feeding her coconut water during breaks, but there was another challenge adding to her ordeal. “The set was filled with smoke, causing my eyes to burn. My ears got blocked as well. In all, well, it was one of the most challenging shooting experiences for me. “