Kalyani Priyadarshan opens up on shooting sans ‘comfort crew’

South star Kalyani Priyadarshan says she discovered it freeing to work on her upcoming Tamil film in the midst of pandemic without her solace group.

Reviewing her experience of working in “Putham Pudhu Kaalai, an anthology of five short films, Kalyani told IANS: “The most interesting thing about it was that it was shot during the pandemic, during the lockdown when full on shoots were not happening.”

The unit followed security gauges and guaranteed not very numerous individuals swarmed the room, said Kalyani, daughter of prestigious movie producer Priyadarshan.

“As actors, it was an interesting experience. We didn’t have hair and make-up teams or assistants and staff who are part of our comfort crew,” she said.

“A lot of times you are hesitant about stepping into a new film, and not having these people around you. The set is new and people are new. They (comfort crew) just bring the comfort blanket along with them,” she added.

Be that as it may, she needed to relinquish them because of Covid-19 concerns.

“It was very liberating. You had to take care of yourself. It was interesting to know that all of this was possible, so it was liberating for an actor. But for someone who was part of a crew, I felt it was such a crazy experience because it felt like we were in college making a short film,” said Kalyani.

Actually, going for the film more than three days were best ones for the actress during lockdown.

“For an actor who has been working like crazy during normal period, this (lockdown) was one of the toughest things I had to go through. In fact, the three days that I shot for this film, were probably my best three days. Otherwise, I was incredibly bored. I am not used to that. I am either travelling or shooting,” she said.

Kalyani included that she delighted in investing energy with family during lockdown however missed “shoot pretty much every single day”.

“Putham Pudhu Kaalai” will debut on Amazon Prime Video on October 16.

“OTT platforms give accessibility to a lot of people. That gives you more opportunity to show your work to more people and makes you excited about that. Right now, I don’t know who will go to a theatre to watch a film. I would, but that’s only because I am crazy about cinema. A Friday without going to a theatre didn’t exist before. But to most people, I am sure this is a much more accessible platform for films, especially for regional content,” said Kalyani.