When Mithra Kurien almost drowned

Mithra Kurien can���t stop that occasional giggle as she recounts a freak accident that nearly cost her her life. The actress, who was shooting in the backwaters in Alleppey for a song sequence for her next, Nandanam, nearly drowned when she fell over from the boat she and her co-star, Sivaji Dev, were in. ���It nearly cost me my life; but when I think of the incident and all the teasing that followed, I can���t help but laugh,��� says Mithra.
The actress says she had joined the Kollywood crew to Alleppey, taking pride in hailing from God���s Own Country and showing off the scenic beauty of the place. ���There was no stopping me from going gaga about how nature had bestowed her best on my state, with its greenery, backwaters et al,��� begins Mithra. ���I had even dared to climb a Chinese fishing net for one of the scenes.
Meanwhile, this incident happened when we were all set to shoot a romantic number on a boat in the backwaters. When I saw Sivaji���s assistant gearing up to save him just in case the actor falls into the water, I laughed it off. Little did I know what lay in store for me,��� she reveals.
Mithra, dressed in a white attire, and Sivaji were to be shot from a bridge, below which the boat was set. ���I was feeling very uncomfortable, what with the boat swaying this way and that, and the sunlight falling straight on my face. That���s when a houseboat came from the opposite direction. The ripples it caused were enough for me to tumble down. And there I went, headlong into the water,��� she recollects.
A few natives who were watching the shoot jumped into the water and brought her ashore. ���And there lay the heroine, the white dress all brown and stinking,��� Mithra quips. ���Though the incident sent shockwaves across my being, I was glad I wasn���t dead!���
While the ���drowning scene��� came as a shocker to the crew too, when she returned to the sets, Mithra says she was teased beyond limit. ���So much for taking too much pride in being homegrown,��� she adds on a playful note.