17 February,2021 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Uma Ramasubramanian
Rana Daggubati in Haathi Mere Saathi
If director Prabhu Solomon could envision only Rana Daggubati in the lead for Haathi Mere Saathi, he also knew Unni, the elephant - who had worked with him in Kumki (2012) and its sequel - would be the perfect fit for the project. In fact, Unni is so sought after that the director had to arrange the drama's schedule according to his dates. "Unni is among the four to five elephants across the country with an Animal Welfare Board of India [AWBI] license. He is the busiest of them as he is taken to festivals, and for ad and film shoots. So, we had to take Unni's dates first and schedule the actors' dates accordingly," says Solomon.
Having worked with the elephant in two films, the director describes him as "emotional and intelligent". "I had found him during the shoot of Kumki after we had auditioned more than 30 elephants across Kerala." The trilingual that focuses on the issue of human encroachment in elephant corridors was shot in the jungles of Kerala. The unit followed stringent protocols when filming sequences with Unni. "According to AWBI, we had to shoot with Unni in soft light in the mornings. We would let him rest in the afternoons, and shoot again in the evenings."
