Shooting ‘Raavan’ in Tamil and Hindi most challenging: Mani Ratnam

Actors Vikram, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan pose during a photo call for "Raavan", at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes.

Unveiling a sneak peek of his upcoming movie Raavan at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, director Mani Ratnam said that filming both the Tamil and Hindi versions of the movie simultaneously was the biggest challenge in his career.

The filmmaker was present here along with the starcast of the film, which includes Vikram, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, to screen the trailer of the bilingual film.

“We shot both versions simultaneously, something I have never done before. This part was my career’s most challenging, most difficult and most stimulating. It was also physically exhausting,” said Ratnam.

It was taxing for Aishwarya as well, who plays a modern day Sita in the movie and shares screen space with her actor husband in the Hindi version.

“Apart from the intricacies of essaying the Hindi and Tamil heroine all at the same time, the inhospitable jungle terrain where we shot posed its own hazards,” he said.

Southern superstar Vikram, who acted alongside Aishwarya in both versions, has dubbed his own lines in Hindi as well as Tamil.

“If Aishwarya could have dubbed for the Tamil edition, why not I for Hindi,” he told PTI .

Ratnam’s wife Suhasini, Raavan’s co-producer and dialogue writer for the Tamil edition said that the film would help “us understand the grey parts that all of us have in us. None of us is completely white or black“.

Praising Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman’s music in the film, she said, “It merges beautifully with the story. In fact, the music accentuates the picture. The songs have a great role to play. They take the plot forward.”