Shooting schedule of Raavan continues.....

As the Raavan team begins its next shooting schedule, Chennai Times gives you a run down on the project.....

The never-ending shooting schedule of Mani Ratnam��s Raavan continues. Over 130 days of shooting has already been completed for the bilingual.
The film, reported to be loosely based on the characters from the Ramayan, has Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Vikram doing the three pivotal characters.
Sources say Mani is trying to give a ��sympathetic twist to the traditional villain Raavan and present a more human side to the character��.
The film has been facing problems right from the beginning. Mani Ratnam was to produce it for a Mumbai-based corporate in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for a whopping Rs 120 crore. But after the recession, the producers opted for cost-cutting, to which the director did not agree. He��s now making the film under his own banner.

Later, when shooting started in the Chalakudy forests, there were frequent run-ins with the Kerala government. Then, Mani was hospitalised and shooting had to be cancelled. All the artistes�� dates went for a toss and cameraman Manikandan walked out of the project. Mani then sent an SOS to Santosh Sivan, asking him to bail him out. This also lent credence to rumours that Santosh was re-shooting some portions of the film shot by Manikandan. When contacted Santosh said, ��It is a figment of somebody��s imagination. There has been no re-shoot. I don��t want to talk about a project in which I��ve worked for just 15 days.��

Meanwhile, sources confirm that artistes are putting pressure on Mani to complete the film, so that they can move on. Abhishek and Aishwarya are teaming up for their new spy thriller Crooked, while Vikram has to start his new film with director Vikram Kumar in September.
Says Vikram, ��I��m proud to be associated with Mani��s film, and will give it importance till it��s over �� hopefully, in the next three months.��
From today, another two-month gruelling schedule of the film is to start in Chalakudy forests, Pollachi and Ooty where Mani, as per sources, is going to shoot the crucial flashback scenes for the Tamil and Telugu versions. The flashback scenes for the Hindi version have already been shot in Madhya Pradesh.
Sources swear that Mani in tandem with Santosh Sivan has reworked the script and added a few more scenes. However, Mani Ratnam is refusing to talk about the film, and is chilling out playing golf and keeping himself fit for the long haul ahead.
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