Fight or flight

Heroine Regina Cassandra has been shuttling between cities, juggling several projects, including Vishal-starrer Chakra. While shooting for Chakra in Chennai, the plan for her was to catch a flight late in the evening, so she could join the shoot of another film. However, Chakra’s shoot went into the evening, leaving her team worried about whether she would be able to make it on time for the flight. With things getting close, only one shot remained. Regina, however, told her team not to worry. “I was confident because the last scene was to be shot at a location close to the Chennai airport,” says Regina. “I knew that if I finished it on time and left from the location, I could catch the flight.”

Things, however, did not go as planned. Once Regina reached the location, she realised that the camera team was nowhere in sight. As time flew by, she was told that the camera team was delayed in traffic. Her team knew that missing her flight would upset the schedule of her other film. 

Regina, meanwhile, used the time to get into character and stood ready in her costume. A crowd began to gather and there was still no sign of the camera team. It was then that director MS Anand came up with an idea. “He decided to shoot my scene on my iPhone as we could not allow the onlookers to grow in number. It seemed like a good solution and so, I agreed, and we completed the scene.” Just as Regina finished shooting though, the camera team arrived. This meant that they had to shoot the scene again.

It was not easy for Regina who had thought that the scene was over. “I had to get into character again. With the crowd increasing and my distressed team checking time constantly, it took all my concentration to complete the shots again.” Once the shooting was over, she remembers running to her car. “My staff put up curtains on the car windows, so I could quickly change. We then sped to the airport and barely made it on time. Usually, I’m never tense about flights as it is part of my job. But that day, it was important that I did justice to both projects. Thankfully, I managed.”