Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ravana’ ready for release

Ravana is the forthcoming film of the writer, producer and director Mani Ratnam, who turned 54 today. The film has a cast of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai and Prithviraj in the leading role with a supporting cast of Prabhu Ganeshan , Karthik Muthuraman, Priyamani and Munna. The film will be releasing on 18 June, 2010 along with its Telegu Dubbed version “Villain”. The background score and soundtracks of the film are composed by A.R. Rahaman. Sony Pictures and Reliance Big Pictures have bought the worldwide distribution rights of this film for 350 crores.

The star cast of this film includes Vikram (Veeraiya), the male lead antagonist, Aishwarya Rai (Ragini Subramaniyam), the female lead, Prithviraj (Dev Prasad), the male lead protagonist, Karthik Muthuraman as Gyanaprakasam, Prabhu Ganesan as Siddu along with Priyamani and Munna.

The shooting begun at the end of 2008, but was delayed for a few months due to Mani Ratnam’s illness. However, the film begun again in August 2009 and went into post-production in October. Cinematographer Santosh Sivan was replaced by V.Manikandan in early 2009.

The film has numerous action sequences and stunts which are performed by the actors. Kalarippayattu, a Keralian martial art form, also features in this film. The costume of Aishwarya is designed by Sabyasachi Mukherjee. The lyrics have been written by Vairamuthu, except the song ‘Veera’, which was provided by Maniratnam himself.

The location of this film includes the forests of Kerala, Jhansi, Kolkata, Ooty, Mahabaleshwar and the Malshej Ghats of Maharashtra.