‘Shooting in the middle of the sea is magical’: Avantika

Avantika Mishra has been shooting for a bilingual romantic comedy under director Nirman. The film was recently shot at picturesque locations of Mudaliar Kuppam island near Mahabalipuram.

“It’s a place that’s hard to go by and organise shooting. I have to travel two hours from Chennai to fisherman’s village. And from there I had to come by car for another 30 minutes of travel to another location from where I had to travel another 40 minutes by boat to reach the shooting spot. It was quite tedious and difficult,” she shares.

But the actress was amazed after seeing the location, and describes it as ‘magical.’ “There’s nothing around the island, not even a tree! It’s just sand and water, and a few rare birds but it was so beautiful,” she smiles.

Avantika and her co-star went to the middle of the sea to shoot a song sequence. The sea was very rough and not levelled, so the unit was advised not to shoot there. “All the cameras were fixed and ready. Me and my co-star were discussing the scene amid all this discussion of whether to shoot or not. But we went ahead and shot a few scenes and came back quickly,” Avantika reveals, describing the experience of shooting in the middle of the sea as ‘magical.’

The actress says that she had a blast while shooting for the song at the beach side. “I was told this is a rare place and not too many films were shot here. Me and Ashok were prepared for multiple takes till we got the right shot,” recalls the actress, stating that the scene had come out beautifully. But isn’t she nervous going into the sea? “I am a beach baby and I love the water. I go deep diving every year,” she asserts.