'A sea of experience,' Athulya Ravi shares her experience while shooting for 'Diesel'

Shooting for Harish Kalyan’s upcoming film, Diesel, directed by Shanmugam Ramaswamy, left Athulya Ravi with an experience that will always remain close to her heart. “For the first time, I had to shoot in boats stationed in the middle of the sea. The shoot took place off the coast of Cuddalore for around ten days. It was a scary but novel experience,” says Athulya.

Every single day the unit set off from the hotel at 8 AM in small boats, and the journey to the mid-sea location took half an hour. “Once we reached the spot, we had to get off our boats and climb into a big fishing boat. We had to hold on to a thick rope hanging on the side and climb up and down from the big boat. I had never done this before and it left me with several bruises and cuts. But Harish Kalyan was a huge help during this daily process.”

In fact, Athulya shares that they used to eat their meals on the fishing boat to avoid difficulties in making multiple trips to the shore. “We spent the entire day in the hot sun, eating sparingly, or just surviving on biscuits, and even avoiding drinking water since there were no restroom facilities nearby. Sometimes when the shoot extended into the night, it would also get extremely cold.”

For another part of the shoot, Athulya, Harish Kalyan, Thangadurai and Dheena had to get into a smaller boat manned by a boatman. “The cameraman and director were on another boat, filming us from far away. We could only communicate via walkie-talkies. When we were filming a scene, the boatman would jump into the sea, and hide behind the boat to avoid being in the frame. For drone shots, he would go underwater. Once the shot was over he would jump back in.”

Traversing the rough seas was an added challenge for Athulya, who confesses to being quite scared of water. “There was no space for a hair and makeup team, so I would do my own touch-up when necessary. My hair was sticky with sweat and salt water, but we let it be since it looked natural. Constant exposure for hours to the harsh sun left us all tanned,” says Athulya, who shares that the challenges ensured the team bonded well with each other, and made light of the tough conditions.

The rather rough nature of the sea also made filming tough because the boats kept moving in different directions. “This meant giving many more takes till we properly fit into the frame. In fact, the constant movement of the boats made a lot of unit members seasick.”

Athulya shares that this feeling of being in constant sea movement extended to the land too. “Even when sleeping, I would feel as if the bed was moving! This went on for the entire duration of our shoot. But despite it all, looking back, we all felt that as actors, shooting in the sea for so long, was a rare opportunity and a unique learning experience for us.”