Algor Lieman is from Gramafilms, a London based creative agency, and production company. When we first signed the contract for this projects, our excitement was leaping out of bounds. We knew this was going to be one of the best filming experience for the whole team. And, we weren’t wrong.
Here’s a walkthrough of our journey of filming for this project from the start!
Sudden change in filming location
Our initial plans were to shoot the film in Kathmandu. But, the plans changed and the next morning, we were all on a bus to Pokhara. We packed everything and filmed along the way. We stopped only for lunch throughout the day. By the evening, we had reached Pokhara and checked in. Just then, it started raining.
Filming in the rain
It was still raining the next day yet we decided to film. We were filming on the road on our way to Sarangkot. The back-door of the Hiace was left open all day. Our cameraman, Tiago, was wearing a special harness to film through the open door of a moving van. The roads were narrow and difficult. After a busy day of shoot, we headed back to the hotel for a very late lunch. We then headed to Recce and decided to call it a day.
Getting to the White Peace Pagoda
Next day, we headed towards Recce near White Peace Pagoda. We stumbled upon some obstacles along the way. One of the shorter ways to our destination was under construction, so we had to take the longer way. We planned to shoot that day but the weather wasn’t in our favor. On the Recce, we faced roads of dirt and mud, but somehow we managed through it. By the evening, we had finalized the locations to shoot for the next day. We then headed back to the hotel at Sarangkot.
The actual filming day!
Finally, the filming day was here!
We woke up early and had our breakfast. It was around 5 in the morning when we left for the shoot. The road to our location was ruined by the rain last night, so, we had to leave our bigger car behind. We took the four-wheel vehicles with us and filmed through most of the way to our location.
We had a warm welcome at Pumdi Bhumdi. The filming went pretty smooth for the day. On our way back, we had a different location planned. We were filming in the middle of the jungle when it started raining again, yet we managed and finished the shoot. We still had to face some obstacles as we were going downhill. Eventually, we reached the hotel late in the evening and called it a day.
Filming in the beauty of Damauli
Our next location was much farther from Pokhara. We left early in the morning and reached the riverside of Damauli. And trust us when we say this — everything about Damauli is beautiful. The rivers running. The beautiful highway. The cool wind. Just about, everything?
Well, we filmed all day by the river and returned to the hotel in the evening. On our way back, one of the vehicles broke down but we had contingencies planned for that. Finally, the whole team united back at the hotel by 10 in the evening. We were all enjoying everything, yet a little sad that it was coming to an end soon. Tomorrow was the last day of the shoot.
Cruel weather vs Our persistency
The weather had been cruel to us ever since we started our journey. Yet again, we couldn’t get a proper shot of the Himalayas due to the adverse weather conditions. It was one of the main reasons to shoot in Pokhara: to capture the scenic beauty of the Himalayas. Nevertheless, we woke up early at 3 in the morning hoping that the haze would clear out. We got to the top of Sarangkot hill by 4:30. We waited for a couple of hours to get the shots we wanted. After some time, we decided to pack and finish it with whatever we had. So yeah, the shooting was finally over!
Headed back to Kathmandu then, and reached by the evening with lots of amazing experiences from the shoot.
