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

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.

By Jilawatan

Former World beauty queen and famous actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan says that her character in ‘Ravana’ starring her husband Abhishek Bachchan isn’t that of our epic Ramayana’s Sita. In the same breath she admits, “Yes, I am playing a woman who has similarities with the Sita of ‘Ramayana’. Aish told this at the press conference of her new Hollywood flick ‘Pink Panther 2′. The actress has been shooting for ‘Ravana’ since Feb 17, and will continue till mid-March. When asked to elaborate her character in the movie, she refused to divulge more about ‘Ravan’. “However, it is an intense film set in today’s time and Mani Ratnam has given a totally new perspective to the art of storytelling,” she continued. She also emphasized that she had never played a conventional couple with her husband on-screen, apart from the film ‘Kuchh Naa Kaho’, though. She illustrated this by stating that neither in ‘Dhoom 2′ nor in ‘Sarkar Raj’ and nor in ‘Guru’, though the movie revolves around Abhishek.

By Jilawatan

Much has been speculated about the role Aishwarya Rai plays in Mani Ratnam’s next film Ravana .

Ash, who has been shooting Ratnam’s film in Kolkata since February 17, told reporters at a press conference that her character in ‘Ravana’ is not named Sita.

“The name of my character is not ‘Sita’. I am playing a woman who has similarities with the Sita of ‘Ramayana’,” Ash said.

The press conference was held to promote her latest Hollywood film Pink Panther 2 which released in India on Friday.

The actress was full of praise for director Mani Ratnam ’s storytelling in ‘Ravana’.

“I can’t give any details about Ravana at the moment. You will have to wait and watch. All I can say that it is an intense film set in today’s time and Mani has given a totally new perspective to the art of storytelling,” she said.

By Jilawatan

On the promotional trail for her Hollywood flick Pink Panther 2, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan candidly told reporters at a press conference that her character in Mani Ratnam’s next release Ravana is not called Sita.

“The name of my character is not Sita. I am playing a woman who has similarities with the Sita of Ramayana,” she said but then refused to give further details about the production which also stars her husband Abhishek.

“I can’t give any details about Ravana at the moment. You will have to wait and watch. All I can say that it is an intense film set in today’s time and Mani has given a totally new perspective to the art of storytelling,” she said.

Ravana will be the fifth film where the husband–wife jodi will be shown on screen. When asked about her pairing opposite Abhishek, Aishwarya said they never played a conventional couple on-screen.