When Lakshmi Manchu`s swimming skills saved her life

Chennai: It was like a scene straight out of a film when actor-producer Lakshmi Manchu narrated her near-death experience after she was thrown off a canoe and fell into Azhapuzha lake in Kerala. She said her swimming lessons came to her rescue.

Lakshmi was shooting for English film ‘Basmati Blues’ in Kerala. "(I) was on a canoe ride at the Azhapuzha lake and our canoe flipped over and we were thrown off. We couldn`t get back on the boat. (I) had to swim more than a kilometre. (It) was quite scary not knowing what was in the water as snakes are a common sight there," posted Lakshmi on her Twitter page. She and her co-star were later saved by a fishing boat. "We, I mean my co-actor and me, were saved by a fishing boat. It was very intense. Thank god for my swimming lessons! It was dark and creepy being in the water," she further posted. ‘Basmati Blues’ is being directed by debutant Dan Baron. It also features Brie Larson, Donald Sutherland and Utkarsh Ambudkar. This is not the first time that Lakshmi met with an accident while shooting in water. She had a similar experience while shooting for her last Telugu production venture ‘Gundello Godari’, a story about love against the backdrop of Godavari floods. IANS