news from the sets of raavan

Page

divya

@-Divyaa-

Inactive

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

Mani Ratnam working overtime

It is a well known fact that Mani Ratnam is a strict disciplinarian.

Mani Ratnam

The director doesn't mind pulling up even big stars if they don't follow the schedule. His shoots begin and end on time. But if the deadline is not met, Mani makes it a point to finish the schedule no matter what. Something like this happened with Govinda's and Nikhil Dwivedi's shoot recently. Govinda and Nikhil are playing key roles in Ratnam's Raavan that also stars Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan.

A unit member informed us, "Mani was shooting crucial scenes with Govinda and Nikhil at Pollachi in Tamil Nadu. The shoot got slightly delayed and Mani shot with Govinda and Nikhil for 34 hours continuously, thus completing his schedule on time."

The shoot began at 4 pm on Wednesday evening and ended at 6 am on Friday morning. "Of course, Mani did allow the unit a short break of three hours, but it was hardly a break. Govinda, Nikhil and all the unit members had to start shooting soon," said our source. Govinda and Nikhil were amazed at Mani's high energy levels. "Mani, who had just been hospitalised, left his actors completely impressed. Also, Govinda kept Nikhil and other unit members in splits with his humourous one-liners thereby keeping stress at bay."

Abhi-Ash starrer Raavan lands in trouble again!

The shoot of Mani Ratnam's Raavan in an Ooty forest came to a smokin' halt, Monday night. Excessive use of the smoke effect (created artificially, without burning stuff up) drew the attention of forest officials in the area.

A source reveals, "Mani was shooting an action sequence with Govinda. The scene required a heavily smoked-up effect. The shoot started at around 8 pm and was stopped within an hour when forest officers reached the location. The thick smoke-filled location had the officials seeing red.

The shoot came to an abrupt stop and everyone was instructed to pack up. Mani then spoke to the officials for over an hour and assured them that no harmful chemicals would be used."

The source continues, "The shoot began by 11 pm. Govinda, who ironically plays a forest officer was enacting his action sequences with action director Sham Kaushal. Earlier action director Peter Hein was on board, but since he has fractured himself, Sham was taken as a replacement. The shoot goes on till the wee hours in the morning. The cast and crew rest in the day and start work at night."

This is not the first time the unit has run into problems with the forest officials. Earlier, the Kerala Forest Division had asked the cast and crew to move out due to illegal construction in one of their forests. Govinda remained unavailable for comment.