So
at
last
the
long
wait
for
Mani
Ratnam"s
Raavan
seems
to
have
come
to
an
end.
Film
Raavan"s
music
launch
was
held
recently
with
great
pomp
and
show.
Live
performances
by
Abhishek
Bachchan
were
indeed
exuberant.
While
Aishwarya
Rai-Bachchan
draped
in
a
glittery
white
sari
with
red
border
not
only
added
a
serene
look
to
her
beauty
but
added
loads
of
charm
to
her
persona.
Ash
anchored
the
event
with
great
poise
although
managed
it
at
a
short
notice
indeed.
She
had
just
flown
from
abroad.
A
brief
chit-chat
with
Lipika
Varma
from
Sampurn
Media
follows-
Ash
literary
seems
to
be
in
awe
with
Mani
Ratnam
who
launched
her
in
Iruvar
in
1997.
“I
must
thank
and
credit
Mani
sir
for
having
conceptualized
this
awesome
character
for
me.
I
had
it
all
for
me.
My
character
Ragini
has
to
perform
dances,
stunts
as
well
as
facing
the
brunt
of
the
weird
character
Raavan.
Believe
me;
I
had
to
perform
in
the
dense,
dark
and
a
dangerous
forest
crawling
with
snakes,
leeches
and
all
the
possible
creepy
critters.
Mani
sir
would
wake
us
up
at
sharp
5a.m.
All
of
us
would
go
on
a
Reiki
and
come
back
by
eight
and
had
to
be
ready
for
our
first
shot.
Mani
sir
is
so
polite
he
would
always
say
'be
your
real
self".
Laughs
aloud
and
adds,
“We
had
to
perform
our
real
self
amidst
the
snakes,
leeches
and
the
other
creepy
animals.
But
I
must
thank
Mani
sir
for
making
me
look
so
very
real
without
a
pinch
of
make
up."
She
goes
on
to
add
about
her
character
that,
“Ragini
is
a
power-packed
character
in
the
sense
that
I
had
to
be
doing
every
bit
myself
[which
of
course
was
my
choice]
right
from
the
stunts
to
getting
muddy
and
swinging
all
over
the
sea
side
holding
a
rope.
Not
only
this,
we
would
also
perform
in
horrifying
climatic
conditions
with
rain
pouring
cats
and
dogs.
But
it
was
fun,
pleasure
and
work
rolled
into
one.
Nonetheless,
Mani
Sir
would
be
standing
at
all
odd
hours
to
our
rescue.
“Secondly
this
character
is
a
discovery
for
me
-
in
true
sense
that
I
discovered
my
new
self."
Well!
Can
her
character
be
compared
to
Sita
then,
we
quiz?
“Actually
this
film
can
not
be
compared
to
any
mythology
as
such.
The
title
Raavan
has
been
taken
just
because
he
behaves
badly.
There
is
no
co-relation
to
any
epic
as
such.
This
Raavan
is
a
man
who
can
also
have
good
qualities
as
well
as
bad
qualities.
At
one
moment
he
can
be
acting
as
a
cool
dude
while
the
very
next
moment
he
can
be
behaving
in
an
obnoxious
manner.
Yes!
On
reel
Abhishek
performs
in
an
imbalanced
manner.
But
by
the
end
of
the
day
we
are
husband
and
a
wife
we
do
not
discuss
much
about
our
filmy
affairs
once
we
are
off
the
set.
So
all
the
discussions
pertaining
to
our
characters
would
begin
the
moment
we
stepped
onto
the
set
only."
Was
Abhishek
not
fearful
of
Ash
performing
such
dangerous
stunts?
“It
was
our
choice
and
to
tell
you
the
fact
we
enjoyed
doing
it
all
by
ourselves.
Although
Mani
sir
did
not
want
his
actors
to
perform
any
such
stunts.
One
thing
I
liked
about
Mani
sir
he
would
tell
me
'look
how
fast
Abhi
and
the
others
can
do
the
dance
steps
and
other
serious
stunts"?" she
replied
to
Abhishek"s
answer
while
Abhi
told
us
that
Mani
sir
always
praised
Ash"s
quick
responses."
In
short,
both
husband
and
wife
[Abhishek
and
Ash]
seemed
to
be
in
total
awe
of
Mani
Ratnam.
To
this
the
quick
witted
Ash
replies,
“Yes!
To
an
extent
that
while
I
was
busy
shooting
with
Mani
sir
for
Guru
he
kept
visualizing
me
in
the
character
[Ragini]
which
had
started
conceptualizing
in
his
mind
at
the
time
of
making
Guru.
Coming
to
her
dancing
style
Ash
says,
“I
really
enjoyed
dancing
in
this
movie.
At
times
I
would
just
freak
out
dancing,
keeping
in
mind
the
wonderful
dancing
style
of
Waheeda
Rehman
in
film
Guide.
I
had
a
lot
of
fun,
satisfaction
for
a
simple
reason
that
Mani
sir
would
ask
us
to
just
perform
in
the
most
casual
manner,
enjoying
the
character
but
yet
it
had
to
be
so
very
real."
Talking
about
the
so
called
assumption
by
the
media,
that
Raavan
has
4
climaxes.
However,
Ash
denies
the
story
rubbishing
it
and
tabooing
it
to
be
a
cooked
tale.
“Infact
Mani
sir
is
one
director
who
would
not
like
to
leave
any
scenes
unfinished.
He
loves
to
complete
a
scene
in
totality
before
going
to
another"
She
further
adds,
“I
had
to
face
the
challenge
of
performing
both
in
Hindi
as
well
as
Tamil.
It
is
not
an
easy
task.
If
Mani
sir
would
recollect
something
of
Hindi
take
he
would
immediately
ask
us
to
shift
to
Hindi
dialogues
while
we
would
be
busy
muttering
our
Tamil
dialogues.
I
would
understand
my
Tamil
dialogues
and
also
would
learn
the
dialogues
of
my
co
actor
in
order
to
emote
accordingly.
So
all
in
all
switching
in
and
out
of
these
two
languages
was
challenging
and
interesting
indeed.
Having
got
married
to
the
Bachchans" family
Ash
says,
“When
a
girl
comes
into
another
family
it
is
her
responsibility
to
keep
up
to
the
family
status.
So
yes!
Like
any
other
married
ladies
she
too
is
professional.
She
has
to
become
even
more
mature
after
getting
married."
“My
professional
and
family
liabilities
are
different
but
I
need
to
handle
both
with
enough
care
to
strike
a
balance
between
the
two.
I
am
also
luck
y
to
have
got
married
into
a
family
who
have
supported
me
and
my
career
fully
well."
It
is
time
to
wait
and
watch
out
for
one
of
the
biggest
movies
to
hit
the
screens
this
year,
and
after
the
Music
Launch,
the
anticipation
graph
has
shot
skywards!