da Gama and the movie took off smoothly from then on. I did not see it as a period film as I felt that the issues it dealt with were contemporary", reveals Shankar Ramakrishnan. Shankar spent two years gathering the material for his script and doing research to flesh out his characters, some of whom are familiar names in Indian history. He went to Kannur and read old ballads and stories of the region. Alexx O'Neill, who hails from Connecticut in the United States, was cast as Estêvão da Gama. "When I had signed Urumi, it was basically for a single character Estêvão Da Gama, but later I played [young] Vasco Da Gama's role, too, and had to speak only in Portuguese", O'Neill said. "I wanted to be very true to the accent and the way the character would speak at that time. So I hired a person in Mumbai before the shooting began. Even during the dubbing I had someone to assist me, so that I don't go wrong with the pronunciation", he added. The 16th century costumes were designed by debutant Eka Lakhani, with make-up by Ranjith Ambady. The clothing worn by the characters, particularly that worn by the women, differed slightly from what would be historically accurate attire. "You cannot re-create exactly how it was then, as women were topless in those days. So, you stylise the kind of dresses they wore in that era," Sivan said to Rediff. Shooting for the film started on 17 August 2010. The production design was carried out by Sunil Babu. The main locations were Kerala and the forests of Malshej Ghat in Maharashtra. Most of the scenes were captured in mostly natural light with a modest of budget and minimal visual effects. "It was tedious and the terrain was difficult. On screen, it looks beautiful but we shot standing in slush almost 24/7. People got foot infections. It was laborious", says Nithya Menon, who played a Chirakkal princess. The film was shot with a combination of various formats. The Canon EOS 5D was extensively used, especially for the sensuous song featuring Vidya Balan. The shooting lasted a period of seven months in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Urumi was filmed by three cinematographers – Santosh Sivan (who is the director of photography as well), renowned wild-life photographer Alphonse Roy, and national award-winning Anjuli Shukla. "Shooting in the mist-laden