Ash and abhi in trouble

The shooting of Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan starrer flick Raavana’, which was scheduled to start near Malshej Ghat area from August 27, is in trouble after the forest officials filed cases against fourteen people of the unit of the film.



Sources say that the officials have filed cases against these people under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Indian Forest Act, 1927 for constructing sets for the film shoot without proper permission. They have also confiscated one JCB and a tractor involved in the construction work and slapped a fine.


Now, director Mani Rathnam will be allowed to shoot on the site only after he gets proper permission from the authorities and pays the fine imposed on the unit members. Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and others were expected to shoot here for almost a fortnight, but now everything has become uncertain.



Sources say that Mani Rathnam was very impressed with the look of the Malsej ghat area and had decided to shoot some portions of his upcoming flick ‘Raavana’ here. The place looks ideal for showing ancient surroundings as is needed in Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavana’, which is said to be a modern take on that 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 taken ill and had to be hospitalized due to some heart trouble, resulting in the delay of the flick.

Recently, an elephant on the set of the film had gone mad and killed its owner during the shooting of an important sequence near Athirapally waterfalls in Kerala with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The whole unit was scared and the star couple could escape somehow unhurt from the ordeal.



However, all this has delayed the project and its cost has already spiraled to around Rs 90 crore, which is a very huge amount to recover in these recession hit times from the box office. Mani is worried about this, and hence wants to complete the project as soon as possible.

Keeping this in mind, director Mani Rathnam just completed some important sequences with Govinda, who is playing the character based on Hanuman in Ramayana. The ace director forced the lazy star to shoot with him at 3.30am for thirteen consecutive days to satisfactorily complete the shoot.

Sources from the set of the film say that Govinda would be so exhausted after the shoot that he would go for massage everyday after completing his shots.

‘Raavana’ is being made in Tamil and Hindi simultaneously. Abhishek Bachchan plays the role of Raavana in the Hindi version, while in Tamil version Vikram enacts the same role. Aishwarya is in the character of Sita, while Govinda is Hanuman. Ravi Kissen and Sonu Sood also play important roles in the flick.