By Jilawatan

When brand endorsement deals get in the way of movies…Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan can’t go to the Venice Film Festival! One would think that an actor’s highest priority is to make movies, but sometimes the stars get too caught up in the lucrative business of promoting products that they forget why they are in this business in the first place!

No time for Venice!
Abhishek and Aishwarya were set to accompany Mani Ratnam to the Venice Film Festival in Italy Monday where the Raavan director received the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. But instead of tagging along to the beautiful city and pose for photogs on the red carpet, Ash and Abhi had to stay home!
What could possibly be more important for the actors than to support the Raavan director? Well, it’s pretty simple actually, yet quite sad for the B-town royalties. One of the Venice Film Festival’s sponsors is a global watch company and a direct competitor to Omega and Longines, the watch brands that Ash and Abhi endorse.

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai, the gorgeous Bachchan bahu who plays the lead character of Sita in Mani Rathnam’s upcoming mega-budget flick ‘Ravaan’ opposite hubby Abhishek Bachchan did not hesitate in climbing steep mountains for shooting an important sequence of the flick with lead actors Abhi and Vikram.

All the members of the production unit were taken by surprise when Aishwarya trekked the same route twice without any complaint whatsoever. It had even left cut marks on her beautiful persona but Ash was undeterred in her effort and gave the best possible shot.

As Mani Rathanm is making the flick simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil and two different heroes Vikram and Abhishek play the lead, Aishwarya had to accompany both of them to the top of mountain to complete the shoot. Though her beautiful face received some bruise marks and all that but Aishwarya completed the shot convincingly.

By Jilawatan

Amidst a lot of hindrances and mishaps like heavy rains, mishaps, jungle safaris, delays, Mani Ratnam’s much talked about bilingual film Ravan is said to have completed its shooting journey. The entire crew is now relieved and relaxed and to mark this occasion, Mani Ratnam and his wife Suhasini organized a party for the team.

Ravan team celebrates the completion of the shooting

‘Ravana’, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam, has a huge star cast including Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Govinda, Prithviraj, Priyamani, Karthik and others. ‘Ravana’, made simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil, is inspired by the epic ‘Ramayana’. It might even be said that it is a modern version of the epic. Interestingly, Mani has given a twist to the story by making the villain – RAVAN – as the protagonist in his movie.

By Jilawatan

Recently Ravan star cast was up for another darshan at a temple for shub mangal of the completion of the film. Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were accompanied by Govinda to Ojhar Temple in Maharashtra.

“All three of them recently headed to Ojhar temple for the darshan. Things have not been going good with the film Ravan and it has been in talks for all wrong reasons thus they decided to took the blessing of Ganpati Bappa,” chirps the source.

Elaborating more on their visit to Bappa temple our source adds, “It’s one of the most powerful idol of lord Ganesha and thus all of them straight headed to the temple. Govinda who essays the role of Hanuman accompanied the duo (Abhi and Ash) and was by their side till the end.”

By Jilawatan

Following her trip to Tinsel Town and the release of ‘Pink Panther 2′, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan is back in Bollywood with a heavy duty call sheet in hand. The actress, who was recently felicitated with the prestigious Padma Shri award in Delhi, is set to resume shooting in Mumbai for Vipul Shah’s ‘Action Replay’.

Meanwhile, she has her hands full with Mani Ratnam’s much awaited ‘Raavan’, opposite her hubby Abhishek. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2010, and is being shot simultaneously in Tamil under the title of ‘Ashokavanam’. Though the cast in the Tamil version differ slightly, the main characters are being essayed by the likes of Vikram, Govinda,Prithviraj Sukumaran, Prabhu Ganesan and Manisha Koirala. It’s being claimed that Raavan/ Ashokavanam is a modern day version of the Ramayana, with Ash as Sita.

By Jilawatan

Mythology gets a new twist in the Mani Ratnam movie ‘Raavan’, starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan .

Though the makers try hard to guard the stories of their much-hyped films, it’s a tough task to plug all the holes to prevent a story from leaking. And now, the story of Abhi-Ash starrer ‘Raavan’, loosely based on Ramayana, is out of the closet.

If sources are to be believed, Abhishek plays a vindictive villain in the film who tries to take revenge after his sister is humiliated in public by the lead actor, Vikram , who plays the husband of Aishwarya. Like Ravana, the traumatised antagonist Abhishek enters Vikram’s household to take revenge, but in his absence Abhi kidnaps Ash.

To hide her, he takes her to a jungle where both of them eventually fall in love and herein lays the unexpected twist. The story explores the complex man-woman relationship in a subtle way.

By Jilawatan

Wary of kicking up a controversy, director v has decided to axe a lovemaking scene between Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan in his movie Ravana .

The movie is said to be the modern interpretation of the ancient epic Ramayana with Abhishek playing the villain and Aishwarya playing a character similar to Sita. In the film, Ash, a married woman, is kidnapped by Abhishek and taken into a forest. Abhishek apparently has grouse against Ash’s husband (played by Vikram ).

In the forest, an attraction develops between Ash and Abhi.

According to latest buzz from the film’s unit, the movie originally had a love scene between Ash and Abhi. But Mani Ratnam has deleted it from the script because he doesn’t want to create an unnecessary controversy that might enrage religious groups and self-appointed moral brigades.

By Jilawatan

Mani Ratnam is being extra careful in making his adaptation of the Ramayana starring Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The film, which revolves around the kidnapping of Sita, has been adapted to suit modern times.

Aishwarya plays the role of a married woman, who is kidnapped by Abhishek.

Soon they get attracted to each other and the story progresses. Mani’s Raavan is played by AB Jr.

Mani is being extra cautious about not incurring the wrath of religious groups and has done away with an intimate scene between Aishwarya and her kidnapper.

Abhishek’s sister commits suicide after being humiliated by Vikram (who plays Ash’s husband), so Abhi kidnaps Ash and takes her into the jungle.

Over time, they develop feelings for each other and there’s a subtle love track between them.

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai undergoes training to sing classical Indian. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a thoroughly professional actress and she is ready to go the extra-mile to get under the skin of her character. For her upcoming movie, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will undergo training in Indian classical singing.

According to news reports, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is going to play the character of Sita in Mani Ratnam’s movie, Raavan. The movie is based on famous Indian epic, Ramayana.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing the character of Sita and hubby Abhishek Bachchan will play the character of Ram and Govinda will play the role of Hanuman.

In real life, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is quite a good singer but not good enough to sing classical songs. For her role, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wants to sing all the songs by herself. She will take lessons from a guru.