Vasundhara has faced a number of challenges in her career, and her latest, the Udhayanidhi Stalin-starrer Kannai Nambadhey, offered her a few more of them. The last schedule of the Mu Maran directorial was delayed because of the pandemic, and a lot of weeks transpired before returning to the sets. “Due to the gap, it took me quite a while to recall the mannerisms of my character. But director Mu Maaran came well prepared. Knowing this could happen, he had saved a few making videos from our earlier schedules. When he showed them to me, it helped me greatly in getting back into the character,” says Vasundhara.
Vasundhara, who is quite rapid with her speaking style, thought if she had to slow down for her character. “Few directors have told me to reduce my pace. But I was surprised and thrilled when director Maaran felt my rapid fire dialogue delivery fit perfectly with my role. It felt nice to be myself.”
The actor shot a lot of scenes for Kannai Nambadhey in the night, especially around the ECR and OMR areas. Recalling a memorable experience of a scene involving her driving a car, Vasundhara says, “Usually, I wear glasses when driving. But my role wasn’t supposed to don one. The visibility was already poor that night, and I had to drive with a low beam headlight for the shot.
Without my glasses, my apprehensions went right through the roof.” It was only after discussing with Maaran that a few changes were made. “He changed the location to a smaller lane and sent two assistants to drive on a bike ahead of my car, to guide me.
That helped me immensely, and I somehow gave the shot.” However, Vasundhara asserts there was a nagging worry at the back of her mind. “The camera team was following me in their car. With all my focus on driving the car ahead, I was simultaneously worried if any sudden braking would make the camera vehicle hit me. There was a lot of expensive equipment in the camera vehicle. Luckily, all went well in that scene.”
After the long night shoots on ECR and OMR, Vasudhara hoped to catch up with some close friends living in that area. However, the team’s meticulous planning spoilt her prospective plans. “All the shoots wound up at 3 am, and there was no chance any of my friends would be awake at those wee hours,” signs off a laughing Vasundhara.