Call of the wilderness

Shooting for a tele-serial close to the jungles without the basic luxuries of life (including proper connectivity with the outside world) is a challenge by itself. As the nine-month saga of shooting for the popular suspense thriller on Zee Kannada — Nigooda Ratri comes to an end, actress Raksha Shenoy, who portrayed one of the female lead shares the experience of shooting for the soap, her acting career so far and more with Bengaluru Chronicle.

“Shooting for the serial was once in a lifetime experience. Unlike any other serial, this particular suspense thriller directed by Anand sir was one of the firsts  to be entirely shot  in the interior parts to the forest area. It was as thrilling as the serial,” says Raksha.

The 22-year-old actress from Karakala, who never aspired to become a star reveals that acting was never her first choice until it happened to her by accident.

“It was during my graduation when a friend of my father who happened to be producing a Kannada film offered me the lead role in the film Prana Koduve Gelati. I took it up for the simpl reason to give a try and it eventually became my passion. Prior to that I had never faced the camera, and not even was part of any activities such as drama during my education,” she says, adding that she would have probably taken up her father’s business after pursuing her higher studies in business abroad.

While she continued her acting with her debut TV soap Charulatha, she also did a couple of big projects before she bagged the popular suspense thriller.

“Meanwhile, I also played a guest role in Simple Suni’s Simple Aag Innondh Love Story’ and then worked for renowned director Kudlu Ramakrishna in his Tulu venture titled Yeregla Ponachi. In between, I did a short movie Bolkir”.

About her nine months long shooting for the serial, Raksha says that she faced a lot of difficulties during the initial days of the shoot. “It was not so easy to shoot away from home for at least 20 days in a month. We, ladies, were provided with a lodge which was 12 kms away from the shooting spot while the male cast and all the technical crew were staying close by at a home stay facility. Adjusting to food and barely any mobile network made things worse. My character as Devika required me to be on the set for a longer duration. Eventually when everything got settled, we as a team got along so well that when we finally had to part ways, it was very emotional,” she recollects.

The credit goes entirely to the producers and crew who did their best to make it a great experience, she adds. While the actress is getting several offers, she has chosen to take a small break and wait for the right opportunity to return. As there were incidents of paranormal activities, the actress admits  that she used to hear about a lot of scary incidents during the shooting but fortunately she never happened to experience any of them.