Aishwarya Rai, the stunningly beautiful Bachchan bahu who plays lead in Mani Ratnam’s upcoming ambitious flick ‘Raavan’ opposite hubby Abhishek Bachchan, felt that she was on the Fear Factor show rather than shooting for a feature film in the jungles of Kerala full of snakes and leeches.

In fact, Aishwarya recalls that not only snakes were present a whisker away, but she was also forced to donate blood to several hundred leeches. Moreover, the location of the shoot was far away in the jungle and on hillocks and they had to make effort to even reach there, leave aside shooting the sequences.

Aishwarya Rai is in the character of a classical dance teacher in the film and her character is known as Ragini. Her character is very strong and not wishy washy. However, despite of being the leading lady of the film, Aishwarya’s character needed to be drenched in water and mud all the time to showcase a real touch to whole proceedings.

Abhishek Bachchan is in the character of ‘Raavan’, while southern superstar Vikram plays the part of Aishwarya’s on-screen husband in the Hindi version. Vikram plays the part of a cop and Aishwarya is his wife, who gets abducted by ‘Raavan’s character Abhishek Bachchan.

The music of the film is one of the highlight of the film and was released today at Yashraj Studios. A R Rahman and Mani Rathnam have combined to make a memorable music album and this will always help the film at the box office.

Beera Beera… track has the potential of becoming a superhot number with the audiences.

Aishwarya Rai, the gorgeous Bachchan bahu who plays the lead in Vipul Shah’s upcoming flick ‘Action Replay’ opposite Khiladi Akshay Kumar, is all set to tickle your funny bone in July with her first ever comic role in this venture.

Though, Aishwarya Rai’s another flick ‘Raavan’ directed by Mani Rathnam will be releasing on June 18, Vipul Shah feels that it would not affect the box office prospects of his ‘Action Replay’. The confidence of the veteran director comes from the fact that ‘Action Replay’ was as different from Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavan’ as chalk and cheese, and hence, they would have different segments of patrons for them.

In fact, ‘Action Replay’ is out and out comedy, wherein Ash will be showcasing her comic talent for the first time, while ‘Raavan’ is based on the mythological story of Ramayan with modern interpretation to suit the contemporary times. Trade sources say that despite of all differences between the two movies, Vipul Shah is likely to consult director Mani Rathnam before deciding upon the final release date of his flick.

He will also have to take into consideration the fact that November month has already been indicated by another maestro Sanjay Leela Bhansali to be the release date of his upcoming Aishwarya starrer flick ‘Guzaarish’.

Even otherwise, Aishwarya Rai is needed by Vipul Shah to complete a song number for his ‘Action Replay’, which is yet not been shot. As the song requires Ash and Akshay both at the same time, Vipul Shah is trying to co-ordinate the dates of the duo before deciding upon the venue of shooting.

Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar are teaming up for this flick after a long time on the screen. Their earlier outing together was ‘Khakee’, but that was before marriage of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

Aishwarya Rai, the gorgeous Bachchan bahu who plays the lead in Vipul Shah’s upcoming flick ‘Action Replay’ opposite Khiladi Akshay Kumar, is all set to tickle your funny bone in July with her first ever comic role in this venture.

Though, Aishwarya Rai’s another flick ‘Raavan’ directed by Mani Rathnam will be releasing on June 18, Vipul Shah feels that it would not affect the box office prospects of his ‘Action Replay’. The confidence of the veteran director comes from the fact that ‘Action Replay’ was as different from Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavan’ as chalk and cheese, and hence, they would have different segments of patrons for them.

In fact, ‘Action Replay’ is out and out comedy, wherein Ash will be showcasing her comic talent for the first time, while ‘Raavan’ is based on the mythological story of Ramayan with modern interpretation to suit the contemporary times. Trade sources say that despite of all differences between the two movies, Vipul Shah is likely to consult director Mani Rathnam before deciding upon the final release date of his flick.

He will also have to take into consideration the fact that November month has already been indicated by another maestro Sanjay Leela Bhansali to be the release date of his upcoming Aishwarya starrer flick ‘Guzaarish’.

Even otherwise, Aishwarya Rai is needed by Vipul Shah to complete a song number for his ‘Action Replay’, which is yet not been shot. As the song requires Ash and Akshay both at the same time, Vipul Shah is trying to co-ordinate the dates of the duo before deciding upon the venue of shooting.

Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar are teaming up for this flick after a long time on the screen. Their earlier outing together was ‘Khakee’, but that was before marriage of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

Bipasha Basu, the husky dusky sexy bombshell of bollywood who oozes oomph with every twist and turn, has been selected to play the character of Abhishek Bachchan’s wife in upcoming mega- budget flick ‘Raavana’.

Bipasha Basu will play the part of Mandodari, who was ‘Raavana’s most loved queen and had the authority to advise him on any state matter without inviting wrath of the demon king. Sources close to director Mani Rathnam say that Bipasha will play a full-fledged role in the flick, and she is going to start shooting in right earnest from the middle of September. The highlight of Bipasha Basu’s character in ‘Raavana’ will be a sizzling hot item number, which is likely to be in the same genre as that of ‘Omkara’s ‘Bidi jalai le….’

In all, Bipasha will have around forty minutes of footage in Mani Rathnam’s magnum opus, which is likely to take around twenty days of her shooting time. Aishwarya Rai plays the part of Sita (not Abhi’s wife as was the case in Mani’s earlier flick ‘Guru’), while Vikram essays the part of Rama in the flick.

Sources close to Bipasha Basu say that Mani Rathnam had approached the sizzling hot bollywood diva for the role opposite Abhishek Bachchan around a month ago. Bipasha seized the opportunity and immediately said yes to the project. However, Mani had prevented her at that time from disclosing about it to anyone else, and so she kept mum till now.

But now when Bipasha Basu’s costumes are ready, she just can not hide her excitement about the project. Her look as Mandodari, ‘Raavana’s chief queen, is gorgeous, and sultry beauty has been waiting with bated breath to join the unit of ‘Raavana’ to shoot her sequences.

The buzz doing the rounds in the industry is that Mani Rathnam chose Bipasha Basu to play the part of Mandodari as she can project the right balance of oomph and intelligence in the scenes, which was a must for the character of Mandodari to come alive on the screen.

In fact, Mandodari was not only Raavan’s queen but is also credited with the invention of chess, which is purely a mind game. It is for this reason that whenever Mandodari would reprimand Raavana for abducting Sita, he would just laugh it off without being angry. In fact, Raavana had a deep respect for her intelligence and righteousness.

However, the grapevine has it that Bipasha Basu was not the first choice for Mandodari’s character and got the part only after Sushmita Sen rejected the offer. Insiders reveal that Sushmita Sen did not have any objection to the role, and in fact, wanted to enact the character but Aishwarya factor finally led her to opt out of the project.

It may be recalled that Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai have been bitter rivals from their initial days of Miss Universe and Miss World respectively. They never liked each other and have always tried to avoid as much as possible. So, there was no possibility of Sush forgetting all that for Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavana’.

Aishwarya Rai, the gorgeous bollywood beauty who plays the character of Sita in Hindi and Tamil versions of Mani Rathnam’s upcoming flick ‘Raavana’ opposite Vikram(who plays Raavana in Tamil, Abhishek Bachchan plays Raavan in Hindi version), has inspired the Tamil superstar to perform on her super hit Hindi song numbers in his film ‘Kanthaswamy’( Kandasamy).

Vikram, who has a huge following in south, has cross-dressed as Aishwarya Rai and performed on songs taken form her films ‘Taal’ and ‘Devdas.’ Sources say that this particular sequence of Vikram has the audience asking for more in theatres and they are thronging to auditoriums more and more to see just this sequence.

In any case, Aishwarya Rai has always been a hit with the audiences in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and this combination of Vikram and Ash has further created magic at the box office for ‘Kanthaswamy.’

Aishwarya Rai and Vikram are working together in Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavana’, which is being made in Tamil and Hindi versions simultaneously. While in the Tamil version it is Tamil superstar Vikram who has got the title role of ‘Raavana’ to enact on the celluloid, it is Aishwarya’s hubby Abhishek who enacts it for the Hindi version.

Vikram is present in Hindi version, too, but here he plays the part of Aishwarya Rai’s husband and not that of pivotal role of Raavana. Vikram’s wife in the film gets abducted by Raavana(played by Abhishek Bachchan) and Vikram fights to get her released.

Though ‘Raavana’ is a modern day take on the great epic ‘Ramayana’ of yore but Mani Rathnam has made the flick from the point of view of the demon king, and not as viewed in the traditional holy books. In this flick, everything will be seen through the eyes of ‘Raavana’.

As far as Vikram’s latest flick ‘Kanthaswamy’ goes, this is the story of a superhero who takes money from the unscrupulous tycoons and helps with it the needy and poor masses. This is for the first time that Vikram is enacting such a superhero character in a film. The film is said to have opened on 60 screens in Malaysia, which is more than even Rajnikanth’s ‘Sivaji- The Boss’

As far as Aishwarya’s craze goes in the south, it may be gazed from the fact that almost every second movie made in Tamil has some lines referring to the gorgeous beauty queen of bollywood. The audience is just crazy about her, and perhaps that’s the reason director Shankar is making with her ‘Endhiran’, wherein she stars opposite superstar Rajnikanth.

Aishwarya Rai, the gorgeous bollywood beauty who plays the character of Sita in Hindi and Tamil versions of Mani Rathnam’s upcoming flick ‘Raavana’ opposite Vikram(who plays Raavana in Tamil, Abhishek Bachchan plays Raavan in Hindi version), has inspired the Tamil superstar to perform on her super hit Hindi song numbers in his film ‘Kanthaswamy’( Kandasamy).

Vikram, who has a huge following in south, has cross-dressed as Aishwarya Rai and performed on songs taken form her films ‘Taal’ and ‘Devdas.’ Sources say that this particular sequence of Vikram has the audience asking for more in theatres and they are thronging to auditoriums more and more to see just this sequence.

In any case, Aishwarya Rai has always been a hit with the audiences in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and this combination of Vikram and Ash has further created magic at the box office for ‘Kanthaswamy.’ Aishwarya Rai and Vikram are working together in Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavana’, which is being made in Tamil and Hindi versions simultaneously. While in the Tamil version it is Tamil superstar Vikram who has got the title role of ‘Raavana’ to enact on the celluloid, it is Aishwarya’s hubby Abhishek who enacts it for the Hindi version.

Vikram is present in Hindi version, too, but here he plays the part of Aishwarya Rai’s husband and not that of pivotal role of Raavana. Vikram’s wife in the film gets abducted by Raavana(played by Abhishek Bachchan) and Vikram fights to get her released.

Though ‘Raavana’ is a modern day take on the great epic ‘Ramayana’ of yore but Mani Rathnam has made the flick from the point of view of the demon king, and not as viewed in the traditional holy books. In this flick, everything will be seen through the eyes of ‘Raavana’.

As far as Vikram’s latest flick ‘Kanthaswamy’ goes, this is the story of a superhero who takes money from the unscrupulous tycoons and helps with it the needy and poor masses. This is for the first time that Vikram is enacting such a superhero character in a film. The film is said to have opened on 60 screens in Malaysia, which is more than even Rajnikanth’s ‘Sivaji- The Boss’

As far as Aishwarya’s craze goes in the south, it may be gazed from the fact that almost every second movie made in Tamil has some lines referring to the gorgeous beauty queen of bollywood. The audience is just crazy about her, and perhaps that’s the reason director Shankar is making with her ‘Endhiran’, wherein she stars opposite superstar Rajnikanth.

Seems like stars of “Raavana” are not holding up for Mani Ratnam’s project once again as the shooting of Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan starrer flick “Raavana”, which was scheduled to start near Malshej Ghat from August 27, is in dilemma after the forest officials filed cases against fourteen unit members.

As per the sources, “The officials have filed cases against these people under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Indian Forest Act, 1927 for putting up sets for the film without legal permission. They have also impounded one JCB and a tractor involved in the construction work and spunk a fine.”

Now, the director Mani Rathnam will only be permitted to shoot on the site when he gets proper permission from the authorities and pays the fines obligated on the unit members.
Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and others were expected to shoot here for almost fourteen days, but now everything has turned into uncertainty.

Mani Rathnam was pretty impressed with the beauty of Malsej ghat area and had decided to shoot some portions of his upcoming project here.
The place looks ideal for showing ancient surroundings as needed in Mani Rathnam’s Raavana, which is said to be a modern take on the great epic.

From the very beginning, the shooting of Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer mega -budget flick Raavana has been in trouble and this has caused delay in the completion of the flick. Earlier, it was Mani Rathnam who was hit by sour health and had to be hospitalized due to some heart trouble that resulted in the delay of the huge project.

Rajnikant’s mega budget next Endhiran starring him along side Aishwarya Rai seems to have garnered a lot of curiosity as the makers are keeping the production a close guarded secret. But the audience interest about it seems to be multiplying day by day as inside details are being leaked out. We managed to find out one such inside info about Aishwarya Rai’s character in the film.

Our sources reveal, “After having learnt sword fights for her English movie The Last Legion, Aishwarya has been training herself in Karate for Endhiran. A noted stunt master Ramesh who has been running a Japan Shito-Ryu karate school in the South for over 30 years, which is affiliated to the World Karate Federation is training the actress for the movie. Ramesh is teaching Aishwarya the basics of Karate for now. In the movie Aishwarya Rai and the other girls in the film will be learning Karate from her hero. Rajnikant is already trained in Karate so he will not have to train himself. Some interesting scenes were shot recently in the VIT University in Chennai.”

Aishwarya Rai has always been a quick learner. Even during the making of the The Last Legion Aishwary Rai had trained herself in the sword fight. She took her skills forward in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar. Her trainers have always been enamoured by her quick learning skills. Apparently Ramesh was also charmed that the actress was able to repeat the karate movements easily.

Ramesh has also acted in Mani Rathnam’s Iruvar (1997) which was Aishwarya Rai’s first ever film. He has also acted in over 400 movies made in South India since 1986 with almost all the leading heroes of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages.