Uncertainty Plagues Mani's 'Raavan'

There seems to be a cloud of uncertainty which is plaguing Mani Ratnam's 'Raavan'. The director had been shooting recently in the jungles of Kerala, where a freak accident compelled the unit to disband the shooting and flee to Ooty. This is hardly one of the many reasons why the film's shooting had to be delayed.

Last week's accident was a freak one, where one of the elephants being used for the shoot went on a rampage. The scary incident left the unit and cast members with no other option but to flee from the spot. The fate of the schedule hangs in balance. The delays in the shooting have certainly been taking its toll on the director, who has recently recovered from a heart ailment and has been in hospital for a while. Earlier, the film's shooting was delayed as Amitabh Bachchan was seriously ill and Abhishek and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan were by his side until he recovered. Then, Mani himself fell ill and was hospitalised. To top it, according to reports, the director is not very happy with certain sequences and is reshooting many scenes. Understandably, the film's budget is shooting up dramatically. This fact must be a constant source of stress for Mani, who is shooting the Hindi and Tamil versions simultaneously. Ash and Abhishek are going out of the way to accommodate the director as they both have a lot of respect and affection for him. But it is not a hidden fact that Ash has to begin shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzaarish' opposite Hrithik Roshan. Besides that, she has a film opposite Ranjnikanth to complete, along with Vipul Shah's next opposite Akshay Kumar. In the pipeline is a film opposite Abhishek in Abhinay Deo's next. It is just getting that much more difficult for the director to balance things out and complete his movie without losing his sanity.