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

Languages aren’t a barrier when it comes to Mani Ratnam’s film. The world cinema buffs across the globe have always welcomed the ace filmmaker’s masterpieces for its unique themes. Here comes the biggest release Raavanan releasing with 2000 plus prints in three versions.

Buzz up!
With the film slated to hit the screens tomorrow, private screenings are been held continuously in Mumbai and Chennai as a close associate of Mani Ratnam and his wife Suhasini hosts them. There’s buzz in the air that the film has a tragic climax with the death of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) and Veera (Vikram). Nonetheless, it has been denied by the units dismissing it as a baseless rumor.

Manirathnam is known for having different climaxes for Hindi, Telugu and Tamil versions. Remember his yesteryear film Thalapathi, The climax screened in Tamil Nadu had the Malayalam actor Mammooty shot dead while in Kerala it was the superstar Rajinikanth.

By Jilawatan

In her latest film Raavan in Hindi and Raavanan in Tamil, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays Ragini, the wife of a police officer who is abducted.

It’s a role which involved working in tough terrain, heavy rains and amongst creatures of the jungle. In this interview, she speaks about her role, the challenges of working in a bilingual and her co-artists. Excerpts of a teleconference.

All about your character in Raavan and Raavanan
There has been a lot of talk that my character is based on a modern day Sita from “Ramayan”, which is not true. I think all the stories can be drawn parallel to our epics because at the end it is all about inter-personal relationship. My character Ragini is Mani’s perception of this strong willed woman abducted by Beera. And the story is about the dynamics between the three characters- Beera, Dev and Ragini.

By Jilawatan

They are the most sought after onscreen and offscreen couple and individual stars, but Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan say they would never rate each other professionally.

Having worked in six films together, the couple is going to rub shoulders again for Mani Ratnam’s upcoming movie Raavan and analysing each other at work is the last thing on their mind.

“We don’t rate each other. We just like working with each other as co-actors,” Aishwarya, 36, said via telepresence from Mumbai late Friday night.

“Abhishek is a very free actor. He breaks himself free. He works as a team member and doesn’t act as a male lead or anything of that sort (on work),” added the former Miss World-turned-actress, who was wearing a white salwar kameez and a pink dupatta.

“He is a team mate fulfilling his director’s vision in every which manner he can and a pleasure to work with,” she added.

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai and south star Vikram share the experience of being part of both the Hindi and Tamil versions of Mani Ratnam’s upcoming film Raavan. But the bonding between the two remained strictly professional, though Ash and her hubby Abhishek Bachchan (who plays her kidnapper in the Hindi version) often invited Vikram to join them for dinner after the long and gruelling shoots so that the actor does not feel left out.

“Just to set the record straight, that (bonding with Vikram) was purely professional that we included him in everything. Before we all let our imaginations go wild, the camaraderie stopped at the bedroom door. Beyond that, it was the two of us,” Ash told reporters while promoting the film at Cannes Film Festival last week.

However, Ash was quick to add that the shoots in the jungles were so gruelling that hardly any time and energy was left for TLC (tender loving care).

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram, the actor from south, have been getting rave reviews for their astounding performances in the forth-coming Mani Ratnam flick ‘Raavan’, in Hindi, ‘Raavanan’, in Tamil and the dubbed version in Telegu, ‘Villian’.

Right after the music launch of the film, the songs have become quite a rage, and the extremely wonderful performances of the actors in the dancing sequences is also creating quite a stir.
Reportedly, the southern actor Vikram, who has acted in both the Hindi as well as the Tamil version of the flick, has been very impressed with Ash’s dancing skills. In the Hindi version, he plays the role of Beera (Raavan), whereas, in the Tamil version, he plays the role of Dev, the hubby of Ragini (Sita), played by Aishwarya.
Thus, in the Hindi version, there is no dance sequence between the two. But, in the Tamil version, the song Khilli Re’, has an astounding dance sequence with both of them. The number is extremely romantic, with a lot of physical contact and movements.
Sources reveal that when actor Vikram’s wife had seen the promo of the song, even she had commented on the chemistry between Aishwarya and Vikram.
Vikram, on his part is very impressed with Aishwarya’s dancing skills, and has praised her solo performances to the hilt! Wow!

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

The latest buzz doing the rounds in bolly circles is that the film ‘Raavana’s director Mani Ratnam had taken a real life like shot in one of the scenes, which nearly froze the unit due to fright for a moment .

It so happened that the director, who had undergone a bomb scare in real life, when a bomb was hurled at him and luckily it burst in mid air just before it reached him, wanted to incorporate this particular scene in his film ‘Raavana’.
Now, the two leads that is, Aishwarya and the south star Vikram, were to be the ones to be attacked with the bomb. For the shoot, a petrol bomb was to be used, this had to be hurled from a distance of 25 feet, and it was supposed to burst mid air just 15 feet from where the stars were.

By Jilawatan

Vikram, who makes his debut alongside Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the three versions of Raavan in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu (the dubbed version), got to share the most daunting experiences in the jungles of Kerala including dancing high above water-level on very slippery rocks.

Says Vikram, “Yes, it was quite an experience. I’m a good fighter, but not quite the dancer. I’ve always felt that Madhuri Dixit was the best dancer ever. But then, I saw how Aishwarya held her own in Devdas. I thought it was fantastic. So, while shooting for Raavan, I just forgot my own steps and kept staring. Every hero from the south wants to work with her at some point in his career. I got my opportunity finally. It’s wonderful that I’m making my Hindi debut with her. It’s strange how every Miss World and Miss Universe enters movies. But who has had the lingering impact of Aishwarya? She has some kind of an enduring aura. Over the years, she has really evolved as an actor.”

By Jilawatan

Bubbly Kerala-born Priyamani has high hopes that Mani Ratnam’s Ravaan, a loosely-based present-day version of the Ramayana, which also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram and Abhishek Bachchan, will prove to be the perfect launch vehicle for her in Bollywood. The much-anticipated film, which has suffered a number of production problems, is now scheduled for release in the summer of 2010.

Priyamani, who won a National Award for her role in Paruthiveeran, recently hit the screens with Ninaithalae Inikkum, a remake of the superhit Mollywood movie Classmates. The film starred Prithviraj and Karthik.

Priyamani’s career appears to know no limits and she has recently bagged a role in Kannada opposite Golden Star Ganesh in a movie said to be a remake of the Kollywood hit Kushi. This will be her second Sandalwood movie after Raam with Puneet Rajkumar which is still awaiting release. “Once Raam releases, people will know who I am,” she says, “I won’t even be able to ask auto drivers to drop me home because then they’ll know where I live.”