Nivin Pauly escaped the danger by a hair’s breadth: Rosshan Andrrews

Rosshan Andrrews’ upcoming movie Kayamkulam Kochunni is one of the biggest films to be made in Mollywood, with a reported budget exceeding Rs 40 crore. The movie based on the legendary highwayman, played by Nivin Pauly, though had its share of challenges.
The filmmaker tells us that animals, especially reptiles, posed a major threat to the film’s cast and crew. A few months ago, the team had zeroed in on a lake in Sri Lanka which Kochunni had to leap in.“It was a beautiful location, so we finalised it at first sight but when we reached the place, someone told us that the area had close to 300 crocodiles. We didn’t have any other option. So, we got some of crew to get into the lake, make noise to drive the crocs away, and then Nivin began shooting. Even then we saw five crocodiles skirting on the sides,” says the director.
If they encountered crocodiles in Sri Lanka, they had to put up with venomous snakes in Kadapa forest in Mangalore. “One of our technicians got bit and fortunately for us, we had a doctor on the set who could provide emergency aid,” says the director. The lead actor was not spared either. Nivin fractured his hand while doing one of the action scenes in the film. “A fortnight later, Nivin resumed the shoot and a few days after that an entire bullock cart almost fell on him. He escaped by a hair’s breadth.”