Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai have completed the Athirapally- Malayatoor forest schedule of Mani Ratnam’s Ravana and have left for Mumbai.
Now Mani is shooting the Tamil version of the film with Vikram, Prabhu, Karthik, Pritviraj, Priyamani and Ranjitha.
After the first schedule in the forests of Kerala is complete by November end, Mani was planning to shoot in the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the best places to see the Tigers in the wild.
But at the moment it looks bleak whether Mani will be given permission by the BJP run state government to shoot in the forests of MP, especially at a time when assembly elections are due in the state.
According to our sources in Bhopal, the BJP government has asked him to submit a script of the film as it is based on the Ramayan!
Meanwhile hush-hush plans are afoot by the unit to shoot in Kandy and surrounding forest areas in Sri Lanka where Ravana lived as per the Ramayan. Mani had shot his Kannathil Muthamittal, there a few years back. The Sri Lankan government it seems has promised that they will roll out the red carpet as Aishwarya Rai is very popular there.
But will Mani Ratnam risk being targeted by his colleagues in Kollywood? Please note Mani did not take part in the controversial solidarity meeting organized by the Tamil film directors at Rameswaram in support of "Tamils facing genocide in Sri Lanka."
And political parties in Tamilnadu will not like Mani to shoot in Sri Lanka, after accepting the hospitality of the Rajpakse government.
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