Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan’s Raavan Hindi movie observed a great opening worldwide

On June 18, 2010, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek starrer Raavan released in 2200 theatres all over the world. And how did it do? Well, the movie did very well on its opening day, collecting Rs. 200million.

Raavan is directed by famous movie director Mani Ratnam. The movie is jointly produced by Mani Ratnam’s home production, Madras Talkies, and Reliance BIG Pictures. Raavan is the first movie in India that simultaneously released in three languages- Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language.

In Tamil, Raavan was titled Raavanan and Villain in Telugu. The movie stars Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, popular South Indian actor, Vikram Kennedy. Among others, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Govinda played supporting characters.

Raavan is the first Indian movie where the actors simultaneously worked in two movies in two different languages. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram appeared in both Hindi and Tamil version. In Tamil version, Vikram Kennedy played the anti-hero while in Hindi version, he played the role of a police officer.

Raavan is a famous character of the great Indian epic, Ramayana. “Raavan” is the villain, King of Lanka, who abducts Seeta, wife of Ram, the son of King Dashrath.

The movie garnered rave reviews in western media. New York Times says, “Director Mani Ratnam and his colleagues give Bollywood fans full value. Ratnam’s pace is steadfastly brisk, and his film is replete with dizzying camerawork, myriad complications, violent mayhem, broad humor, usual musical interludes, a cliffhanging climactic confrontation and a finish that strikes a note of poignancy,”

The Los Angeles Times said that Raavan comes with lots of “Bollywood glamour” but the real star was Mr. Ratnam, a great “visual story teller.”

Raavan director Mani Ratnam explores his grey side through his heroes

Mani Ratnam is one of the most talented directors in Bollywood. In his twenty years of career as a director, he directed many movies that changed the face of Indian cinema. His latest movie, Raavan, is loosely based on Indian epic Ramayana.

Raavan mainly focuses on “Beera Munda” played by Abhishek Bachchan. He is a tribal leader who kidnaps the wife of a police officer. The movie mainly explores the relationship between the captor and captive. In the movie, Mani Ratnam ventured into the grey side of human nature.

However, this is not the first time Mani Ratnam made a movie that deals with dark side of human beings. His first major hit Nayagan, tells the story of a don in Mumbai. Dil Se, Roja, and Bombay deals with terrorism.

According to Mani Ratnam, his “less-than-perfect” heroes are actually a manifestation of his grey side which he likes to explore in his movies. He said,

"I don't know why my leading men have grey shades. Maybe I am trying to explore that side of me through them,.....I think they lend themselves more to the drama."

With Mani Ratnam, this is the third movie Abhishek Bachchan. Previously, Abhishek Bachchan did Guru and Yuva with Mani Ratnam. In Guru, Abhhishek Bachchan played ‘Gurukant Desai’ an unscrupulous businessman who does not hesitate to adopt illegal means. In Yuva, he played a small time criminal.

About Abhishek Bachchan, Mani Ratnam said, “Every time I worked with him, he had drastically different characters and each time he delivered. He is tremendous to work with. Abhishek is growing with every film. He is growing by leaps and bounds,” said the director who dared to give Abhsihek a negative role in “Yuva” that took the actor’s career to new heights.”

Raavan will release in theatres tomorrow. The movie will be released in 1280 prints in three languages.

Aishwarya Rai pregnancy rumor and Raavan tasted success in Chennai

There is good news and there is bad news for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The good news is, Raavanan, the Tamil language version of Raavan, released in 16 screens in Chennai on June 16, 2010 observed a great advanced booking.

Tickets in multiplexes have been sold out all over Chennai. Maayajal is the only multiplex in Chennai, that is showing all the three versions of the movie and they are holding fifty shows per day- 45 shows for Raavanan, 5 shows for Raavan and 2 shows for Villain. Meenakshi Sundaram, Manager of Maayajal, said, “ The booking for Raavanan is phenomenal, nearly 80 percent of the shows have been sold out on the first day of booking.”

The first official preview of Raavanan took place on June 15, 2010 at Four Frames Preview theatres for the family members of A R Rahman. Rahman’s mother and other family members liked the movie very much.

On June 14, 2010 Mani Ratnam arranged another special screening for Raavan for its crew and family members and on June 15, 2010, the crew left for the London premiere of Raavan.

The bad news is rumors about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s pregnancy started again in the media. Many reported that Aishwarya Rai was seen with a baby bump while she was attending the promotion of Raavan with Abhishek Bachchan. Nobody could say whether it is real.

Few months ago, news report came out that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan could not conceive for stomach TB and the news upset the Bachchan family very much. Amitabh Bachchan said that as the head of the Bachchan family he is very upset because Aishwarya Rai is like her daughter and he would fight with anyone who makes derogatory comments about her.

Raavan will have 1280 prints in different languages in India and overseas

Only four days to go to the release of Mani Ratnam’s movie, Raavan, Raavanan, and Villain to hit the theatres.

On June 15, 2010, the crew of Raavan and Raavanan including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Santosh Sivan, Mani Ratnam and others left for London where they will attend the world premiere of Raavan on June 16, 2010.

It will be a red carpet affair and Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan would also attend the premiere. A total of 1280 prints of Raavan in different language will be released in India and overseas.

The movie is produced by Madras Talkies and Reliance BIG Cinemas. In Chennai Madras Talkies issued a public statement which says, “The long wait is finally getting over. Come Friday, Raavan and Raavanan is all set to sweep the feet of movie-buffs across the globe. Produced by Madras Talkies in association with Reliance Big Pictures the craze and excitement for Mani Ratnam's magnum opus is getting bigger and bigger”.

The statement further revealed that Raavanan, the Tamil version of Raavan, will be released on June 18, 2010 in Tamil Nadu. A total of 220 prints of Raavanan will be released out of which, 125 will be released overseas. The Telugu version of the movie titled Villain will release 125 prints of which 25 will be released overseas. Advance booking for tickets will start from June 16, 2010.

On the other hand, the Hindi version, Raavan will have 500 prints around the country out of which 305 will be released overseas.

Raavan Hindi movie promotion: Abhishek Bachchan tours all over Mumbai

There is only one week for Raavan to hit the theatres and actor Abhishek Bachchan is sparing no effort to promote the movie.

In 2009, to promote his movie, Delhi 6, Abhishek Bachchan set a new Guinness World Record for maximum public appearances in 12 hours. He toured seven cities to promote the movie.

To promote Raavan, Abhishek Bachchan made his appearance in ten different places in Mumbai.

However, the actor was not alone. With him, there was an entourage of six dancers dressing like the characters in the song, “Thok di killi.” The actor was successful in his attempt and got the attention of huge crowd.

Fortunately, Abhishek Bachchan’s promotional activity did not cause any traffic jam as four cars of police and security personnel surrounded the thirty four year old actor.

Abhishek Bachchan went to six different locations- Metro Cinemas (near Churchgate), Kalaghoda, Wilson College, Phoenix Mills, Bandstand, Juhu, Mithibai College, Inorbit Mall (Malad) and Cinemax (Versova).

He was also scheduled to go to Flora Fountain but police confiscated the sound equipments used for the promotion as the area was a silent zone.

As the crowd gathered around the actor, he threw various Raavan merchandises such as keychains, T-shirts and his fans enjoyed it a lot.

Raavan will be released in theatres on June 18, 2010. The movie stars Abhishek Bachchan and his wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and South Indian movie star, Vikram Kennedy.

In Raavan movie Vikram enjoyed playing Veera

Vikram Kennedy is not a well known actor in Bollywood but he is one of the most sought after actors in South Indian cinema. Vikram Kennedy worked in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan which will hit the theatres on June 18, 2010. He played two different characters in two version. In Tamil version, Raavanan, he played the negative character, Veera, while in Hindi version, he played the role of police officer.

It was a very demanding job for Vikram. In an interview with Times of India, the actor shares his experience.

Vikram played Dev in Hindi version and Veera in Tamil version and the two are entirely different characters with entirely different style and body language. Initially, he was offered the role of Veera in Tamil movie. Later Mani Ratnam told him that he should also play Dev in Hindi movie. It was Mani Ratnam’s confidence in Vikram that helped him pull off such a feat. Never before in Indian cinema, any actor played simultaneously two different roles at the same time. It can only happen in Indian cinema because movies are made in different languages in India. Vikram also dubbed his own voice in Hindi version. People who watched Vikram in Raavan liked his work.

When asked if he is planning to do any more movies in Hindi. Vikram said,

“I’m just testing the waters. Anniyan (dubbed into Hindi as Aparachit) had given me some kind of recognition in Hindi cinema. It got me a lot of offers from Mumbai, but Tamil cinema will always be my top priority. I will take a call on doing more Hindi films after the release of Raavan and that too, only if I get a strong script.”

When asked which character he enjoyed playing most in Raavan and Raavana, Vikram said that Veera is very close to him. The character of Veera is multi-faceted. He is a strong character and holds a lot of power. On the contrary, Dev is a very traditional hero. There is nothing very unusual about him. On the contrary, Veera has grey shades and it gave Vikram a lot of scope to explore new range of emotions.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan remained inseparable during the shooting of Raavan

During the shooting of Raavan Hindi movie, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai always stayed together even when they were shooting at the dense forest.

Raavan Hindi movie is the upcoming movie of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. A major portion of the movie was set in jungle. The jungle shooting lasted for two hundred days and it was very grueling especially for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for she had to shoot both in Tamil and Hindi version.

In Hindi version, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan play the lead roles while South Indian actor, Vikram, played the villain. In Tamil version, Vikram and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played the lead role.

The shooting was very grueling but even after all the hard work, Abhishek Bachchan always stayed with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

While talking about her experience of shooting the movie, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan said, “You're drenched from six in the morning till seven in the evening; the day starts with a trek, going to locations and then you muddy yourself, dirty yourself, get into costume. It's just a very demanding, consuming experience from moment to moment.”

Call it love or insecurity, Abhishek Bachchan made sure that Aishwarya Rai does not dine or spend time with Vikram.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan got married in 2007. Recently, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan attended the Cannes Film Festival where she also promoted Raavan Hindi movie. Both the Tamil and Hindi version of the movie will be released in June.

First look of Raavanan Tamil movie unveiled

The first look ceremony of Raavanan Tamil movie took place at the Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Hall at Lady Andaal School on May 14, 2010. All the cast and crew of Raavanan Tamil movie excluding Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were present in the ceremony.

The actors and the director talked about the movie and about their experiences to the audience. The actors talked about their characters and the movie but they were very careful not to disclose too much information about the movie.

The stage was set to resemble the dense forest as shown in the backdrop of the movie. Everything was done to create the similar environment the audience have seen in the trailers of Raavanan Tamil movie.

Raavanan is the name of the Tamil version of the movie. In this version, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram and Prithviraj Sukumaran played the lead roles. In the Hindi version, Abhishek Bachchan plays the male lead.

Actor Karthik and Priyamani gave a warm welcome to the audience and set the mood of the show. Then the audience was shown trailers of the movie. The cinematography, the location and the landscapes were very much liked by the audience. It is quite obvious because when there is a director Mani Ratnam, nothing could go wrong.

The singers and actors also performed in the show. Singer Karthik first sang 'Usirey Poguthey.' The music of Raavanan has been composed by A R Rahman. This was followed by Vikram’s dance performance to the song ‘Kodu Potta.’ Vikram plays the anti-hero in the movie.

The center of the show was the soulful performance of A. R. Rahman along with famous lyricist, Vairamuthu.

Raavanan is going to release in theatres on June 18, 2010. A Telugu version named Villain will also be released in theatres.