Acting in – 40C – An experience of a lifetime is what can be said, one when you are shooting for Joe Wrights Anna Karenina in a village in Russia & two when you are the only Indian to have ever shot in temperatures of -40 degrees. The braveheart is none other than Tannishtha Chatterjee who is shooting for the film in a town called Petrozadodsk which is 500km north of St Petersberg, which is actually an island in a lake called the Kizhi island. The lake, one of the biggest in the world is completely frozen at this time of the year and the temperatures range between -30C and -50C.
When asked, she mentioned “Its a surreal experience. Everything turns into ice within seconds. People in this village dont drink water because it turns into ice. To think of it, its colder the the freezer in our refrigerators.The sun rises at around 10am and sets by 4pm. Any naked skin gets frozen within seconds. In some of the pictures, Ihave just exposed my lips and nose for the photo.. it had to be covered immediately after. Now how we are shooting is such conditions, thats a miracle. I had no imagination of how it would be like. And now that I am here, its real. So damn real that it is out of anyones imagination.”
Tannishtha has a shot on a sledge, and the wind was so strong on it, but even then she had to expose her face atleast if nothing else. She was given foot and hand warmers, which is a kind of a small pouch with some sand and chemicals in it, and when you move it, it gets heated. And it is bloody hot.
She also mentioned “People have a different existence here all together. After coming here I realise how easy we have it. These guys here have to put in so much effort in fighting against nature. Everything gets 10 times tougher. The simplest of things take so much time, what an adventure though. This is when I think, I am so glad i work in films or where would I otherwise have such diverse experiences and travel to such amazing paces where civilization seems to exist at a different level.
Well we wonder if Bollywood would do an item number in -40C. You cant see anything but the face (that too only glimpses) hence no censor trouble.