Who was the reason Aishwarya Rai joined the movies? How do Ash and Abhishek rate each other as actors? And who was really in control on the sets of ‘Raavan’? Well, the answers to all those questions were revealed by the ‘Raavan’ team in a video conferencing interaction on June 11. Aishwariya, Abhishek, Mani Ratnam and Vikram spoke to journalists in Dubai, Mumbai, Chennai, New York and Delhi through Cisco’s Telepresence technology, and here’s what they had to say.

Is 'Raavan' really a modern-day retelling of the Ramayan?
Ash, dressed in a white and peach chikan embroidery salwar kameez, was quick to quip, “It’s not the Ramayan, it’s the Ravayan!” She added, “Mani Ratnam is the one who conceived the movie, and we’ve approached it from his point of view. But you know in most Indian stories, somewhere you’ll find parallels with the epics.”

Why Ash and Abhishek for the roles of Ragini and Beera in ‘Raavan’?
Mani Ratnam took this one and said, “50 per cent of your job gets done by casting right.” And Abhishek quickly added, “I’m the only one who was badly behaved enough to play this role!”


What was it like doing all those dangerous stunts?
Southern superstar Vikram, who plays Dev in the movie, said, “I’m still reeling from it. But by far the worst thing I did was the Hindi dubbing.”

Abhishek added, “I was happy when we were doing stunts because that meant that we were not doing scenes. Even though I couldn’t sit for four days after doing the stunts. I also learnt while doing the stunts that snakes can swim, rat snakes can attack you, and leeches can get in very uncomfortable places! But seriously, Mani Sir would never let us do anything that he wasn’t sure about the safety aspect of.”

What was it like shooting in two different languages?
‘Raavan’ was being shot simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil, with Aishwarya playing the same part in both movies, and Vikram playing the hero in the Hindi version and the villain in the Tamil version. So, Ash and Vikram would first shoot a scene in Hindi and then shoot the same thing all over again in Tamil. Was there a lot of confusion on the sets with the two languages and the two versions? Abhishek said, “I was the only one who knew what was going on. I was in control!” Ash admitted that the language shifts were tough, but that Mani Ratnam guided them all the way through.

The cast on Mani Ratnam
Abhishek and Ash both made said that they really admired the filmmaker. In fact, they credited him with their career being where it is. Abhi said, “He’s given me a huge confidence boost. He knows my potential better than I do. He’s always given me career-defining work.

Ash revealed, “Mani Ratnam is the reason I joined movies. I used to be confused but after working with him I was sure that this was what I wanted to do. He whets your appetite as an actor and as a creative person. Creatively, it gives you a lot of satisfaction working with him, and it spoils you too!

Vikram added, “Since my college days, I used to think – ‘I’ll retire once I work with Mani Ratnam.’ He treats every film like it’s his first film, there’s so much passion.”


Ash-Abhishek on each other
While the real-life couple said that they don’t discuss work at home, they did share what they thought of each other as actors.
Aishwarya said, “We don’t rate each other as actors, we just like working together. What I like about him is that he’s a very free actor, he doesn’t limit himself to safe.
Abhishek continued, “I think ‘Raavan’ is Ash’s best performance to date. On a difficult shoot like this, it was easy to become a whiner. But she was so strong. She’s a very interactive and very supportive co-star.”

Were four different endings shot for ‘Raavan’?
Abhishek clarified, “There’s just one ending, and that was the only one shot.”

- Masala.com