Filmmaker Chandoo Mondeti recalls a nerve-wrecking adventure as he talks to us about the experience of shooting his forthcoming film, Karthikeya 2, starring actor Nikhil Siddhartha.
The makers went on a recee to Rohtang pass and surrounding areas and finalised a few locations for the shooting, which was set to take place on March 22, for over a week. After completing a 20 days schedule in Gujarat, the filmmakers had reached Himachal and commenced shooting. While they managed to shoot on the first day, they were stuck in traffic on the second day for six hours.
“We experienced heavy snowstorm on the second day enroute the location; we were stuck on the ghat road and there was a huge traffic jam. In fact, the place where we were stuck was completely inundated with snow; it was very scary because we were clueless on how long it would take for us to get on,” explains director Chandoo, adding that Border Road Organization (BRO) personnel helped them by serving them some hot tea and other snacks.
“The entire stretch was very scary due to continuous and heavy snowfall for hours. It was minus 21 degrees and we were literally freezing,” he recalls.
Karthikeya 2 shooting location was inundated with heavy snowThe makers had obtained special permission for shooting at the Lahaul Valley and Spiti Valley. “It’s one of the scenic locations here and we are glad that after putting so much effort to reaching here we were able to capture picturesque locations in the frame,” shares the director, who reveals that filming the scenes they lost one of their drone cameras after it had lost contact due to lose connection and poor and network. Having completed the film’s shooting, the director describes the entire experience as an ‘adventure’.
