My wife... my hero: Abhishek

It would take the genius of Mani Ratnam to pick an epic like the Ramayan, turn it on its head, and still create a curiosity for it like he has with Raavan that releases worldwide today.
This Aishwarya-Abhishek Bachchan-Vikram film, marketed and distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures, takes the lead pair’s screen equation to the next level after the success of Guru and Sarkar Raj.Both Bollywood superstars believe this will be one of their career-defining films.
Indulging each other like a normal lead pair would at its promotion, Abhishek says, “The film has three heroes — Vikram, me and Ash. Her role is definitely on par. And Vikram and I feel proud to share the honour with her.’’ Ash pays him back in the same coin, “Working with Abhishek is a rewarding experience, he is a wonderful actor.’’ She adds, “People asked Mani why he wasn’t calling the film ‘Raavayan’ because it is assumed that Raavan draws a parallel to Ramayan. But simply put, it is a beautiful film about inter-personal relationships.”
The Bachchans admit they are partial to Mani and would go to any lengths to indulge the filmmaker. For Abhishek, this is his third outing with Mani after Yuva and Guru. Says the actor, “With each film, my respect and love for Mani keeps increasing. I will do almost anything for him. In Raavan I have climbed mountains, jumped off cliffs, hung on bridges, stayed drenched in water for days on end, braved water snakes, had leeches clinging to me in uncomfortable areas and even woken up at an unearthly hour like 3 am. Mani inspires you to put your life on the line for a film.’’
While India’s most beautiful face says, “Mani is my ‘guru’. Some of my personal favourites have been characters that I played in Mani’s films... like Kalpana or Pushpa (Iruvar-1997), Sujata (Guru-2007) and Raagini (Raavan-2010)... it would be hard to choose one from the other.’’ Abhishek makes it easy for her, “I thought she was stupendous as Sujata. But Raagini is by far her best work with Mani. She has blown the Guru performance out of the water (you’ll understand what I mean when you see Raavan) literally!’’ When asked if they critique each other’s performances, both actors laugh, “No, we don’t... because we have the critics doing it for us anyway.’’
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