Raavanan

Raavanan is a forthcoming Tamil film written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Vikram, Aishwarya Rai and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles, with a supporting cast comprising Prabhu Ganesan, Karthik Muthuraman, Priyamani and Munna. The film is expected to be released on 18 June 2010, along with its dubbed Telugu version titled Villain. It was simultaneously shot in Hindi as Raavan with a slightly different cast. The score and soundtrack of the film is composed by A.R Rahman. The film’s worldwide distribution rights have been bought by Sony Pictures and Reliance BIG Pictures for a record price of Rs.350 crores.

Casting
In 2008, Vikram was signed up to portray the male lead antagonist of Raavanan while Prithviraj was cast in the protagonist role. In the Hindi version, Vikram plays the protagonist and Abhishek Bachchan plays the antagonist. Aishwarya Rai will play the female lead in both versions of the film. The film sees Prabhu Ganesan and Karthik Muthuraman act together in a Ratnam film once again after Agni Nakshatram (1988).

Filming
Shooting began in South India at the end of October 2008. Mani Ratnam became ill during filming, which delayed the filming for a few months in 2009. However, the film began its last schedule in August 2009. The film finished filming and went into post-production in October 2009. V. Manikandan was hired as the film’s cinematographer. However, he was replaced in early 2009 by Santosh Sivan.

This film has numerous action scenes and stunts performed by the actors. The Kerala martial art form Kalarippayattu is also featured in the film. Dancer Astad Deboo choreographed a passionate chase scene and tandav dance between Vikram and Aishwarya Bachchan for the film. Choreographers Shobana, who starred in Ratnam’s Thalapathi, along with Ganesh Acharya and Brinda have choreographed in Raavanan. Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee designed Aishwarya Rai’s costumes in the film.

Filming took place in numerous locations around India including the forests of Kerala, Ooty, Jhansi, Kolkata, Mahabaleshwar and in the Malshej Ghats in Maharashtra. While filming in Kerala, the production temporarily ran afoul of forest officials for reportedly not following regulations; the issues were resolved by October 22, 2008.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film is composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Vairamuthu, except for the song “Veera”, which was penned by Maniratnam himself. It features 6 songs and was released on 5 May 2010 by Sony Music.