MUMBAI: The romantic drama Maara, starring R. Madhavan and Shraddha Srinath, was extensively shot in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and director Dhilip Kumar recalls how filming in coastal Kerala was most challenging yet fulfilling.

"Every other day we used to get cyclone alerts during shoot. It was very difficult to shoot in such a bad weather. However, eventually we managed get our scenes right once we understood the weather pattern. I remember how for the first few times we all freaked out, but with each passing day it got easier and fun," said Kumar.

"Then it was like a guessing game since after every couple of days there was an alert. After a while shooting in the rains was never an issue, however you don't see that much rain on screen. We would wait for the rains to stop and get a half an hour window, and sometimes wrap the scene within that half hour," he added.

The director shared that the first half of the film was entirely shot in a coastal town.

"We extensively shot on roads, and sometimes when a character is riding a bike or walking on the street, they would not know where exactly the camera was placed. Consequently, we managed to do a lot of candid shots," he said.

Maara marks the feature film debut of Dhilip Kumar, who had directed a short film titled Kalki in 2015. Maara will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on January 8.