Making the 2013 film Lootera, which completes 11 years of its release today, July 5, was not easy for filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane. In a recent interview, he recalled the “tough” time he had while working on the film. He also revealed why the film’s lead actor Ranveer Singh was airlifted from the film’s sets in Darjeeling.

Speaking on the Youtube channel Comments SectionMotwane said, “It was a very difficult film to shoot. The script was so good and we had actors and crew who were totally immersed in it. We had to film in Dalhousie in December. They asked me not to do it, but I wanted the actors to feel the cold and have smoke coming out of their mouths. I thought it would look great on screen; it’s one of those filmmaker things.”

When Motwane reached Dalhousie to shoot the film on New Year’s Eve, there was no snow. However, the weather conditions changed over the next few days. “It snowed so much that our set collapsed. We were stuck in Dalhousie because there was too much snow. We couldn’t shoot,” the filmmaker said.

Motwane also revealed that Ranveer Singh had suffered the injury in the gym before he left for Dalhousie with the Lootera team. Eventually, the injury turned out to be more severe as the actor continued shooting despite the pain.

Motwane said, “A day before we were about to leave for Dalhousie, Ranveer Singh met me and said, ‘Yaar, I am having some pain in my back.’ Within two days of shooting, his back stopped working completely. He didn’t realise it, but it happened when we were shooting the scene where he was shot in the back. Because he was in pain from the clip, he stopped noticing the spasms in his back. Ranveer died. We had to evacuate him from there by helicopter.”

Eventually, Lootera had to be shot during the summer and Motwane called in someone from England to create the effect of snow in the hot weather of May. The film, starring Sonakshi Sinha, was well received by critics but failed to succeed at the box-office.