Ashima Narwal, who made an impressive debut with Vijay Antony’s Kolaigaran, speaks to DC about her experiences working alongside of an elephant in her upcoming film Raja Bheema with Bigg Boss fame Aarav.
“The film speaks about the bond shared between an animal and a human. Directed by Naresh Sampath, it revolves around an elephant named Bheema. I play a doctor. With its body language, it was very challenging to cope up with the timing while shooting with Bheema.”
She adds that most of the shots with the elephant were canned in Thailand. “And, it was all the more tough to work with the local mahout there. They don’t understand English and speak their nat+ive language and the elephant would listen to its master only. We did have a translator. However, we have to put in double the effort than normal to shoot.”
Sharing a scary experience, she says, “There’s a scene where on one side I have to pull Aarav and on the other Bheema has to pull him his side. According to the scene, eventually I will pull Aarav towards me. But, much to our shock, Bheema started pulling him sincerely and the entire unit was perplexed. We somehow managed to stop the shoot for a while (shrugs).”
