Rs. 300 crore riding on Aishwarya Rai this year br/

New Delhi, (BollywoodWorld.com) Last year she was seen in just one film – Hollywood’s “Pink Panther”. But this year Aishwarya Rai has four films lined up for release – two southern projects “Ravana” and “Endhiran” as well as “Action Replay” and “Guzaarish”, collectively costing over Rs.300 crore (Rs.3 billion).

While her bilingual sci-fi film “Endhiran”, starring southern star Rajnikanth, is said to be made at a budget of Rs.125 crore (Rs.1.25 billion), approximately Rs.45 crore (Rs.450 million) has been spent on Mani Ratnam’s much-awaited “Ravana”, which is set for a June release.

Vipul Shah’s “Action Replay” costs around Rs.60 crore (Rs.600 million) and if reports are to be believed, UTV is shelling out close to Rs.80 crore (Rs. 800 million) for Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed “Guzaarish” for which Aishwarya is currently shooting along with Hrithik Roshan in Mumbai.

Aishwarya has been busy shooting all these films for the past one year and even suffered health problems due to her hectic schedules.

According to a well-placed source from the team of “Ravana”, the Hindi version of which also features Abhishek Bachchan, the actress has given some of the most difficult shots in the movie without complaining about geographical or weather conditions used to can the scenes.

“Aishwarya’s role in ‘Ravana’ is the toughest. In the Hindi version, Vikram (southern star) plays Ram and Ravana in the Tamil vesrion. And Aishwarya plays Sita in both the Hindi and Tamil versions. Both the versions were simultaneously shot. Mani Ratnam canned the film in the most difficult and dangerous places. Still Aishwarya gave the same shots twice for the two versions – be it in the rain, on mountains, jungle, etc,” a source told IANS.

“People say Vikram’s role in the film is the toughest, but the actor himself feels Aishwarya’s role is the most difficult,” the source added.

While shooting for “Ravana” in the jungles of Kerala, the entire cast and crew had a scary experience when an elephant ran amok and killed a 51-year-old mahout, Andavan. The actors including Abhishek, Aishwarya, Vikram, Prabhu and Munna had to take shelter in a guest house and survived on bread and eggs.

“Ravana” is said to be a modern-day version and a loose adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana.

Apart from “Ravana”, Aishwarya’s role in another southern project “Endhiran” has been a well-guarded secret till now, but some leaked photographs of the film’s shooting show her in a different avatar.

“Action Replay”, starring Akshay Kumar, is a time-travel tale in the 1950s and its storyline is based on an eponymous 1994 Gujarati Indian play. The director has emphasised a lot on the lead actors’ “retro looks” in the movie.

“We, Akshay’s designer Shabina Khan, Aishwarya’s designer Manish Malhotra and all of us have worked really, really hard to give ‘Action Replay’ a unique look. If that look is leaked out, we’d lose our biggest USP,” Shah had told IANS.

In “Guzaarish”, the actress will play a married nurse who falls in love with a paraplegic patient essayed by Hrithik.

Though each role is different from the others, it remains to be seen which one of these strikes gold at the box office.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Aishwarya Rai at audio launch of Tamil film ‘Rettaichuzhi’ br/

Chennai, (BollywoodWorld.com) Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai made a rare appearance at an audio launch here and took many by surprise when she broke into fluent Tamil.

It wasn’t just any audio launch but that of Tamil film “Rettaichuzhi” produced by Shankar, who is directing her opposite superstar Rajnikanth in “Endhiran: The Robot”.

Draped in a white sari, Aishwarya was at her courteous best at Sathyam Cinemas Monday evening as she got up to greet veteran directors K. Balachander and Bharathiraaja who play pivotal roles in the film.

Shankar said it was great to have Aishwarya as she hardly attended audio launches. He recalled that the former beauty queen wasn’t present for the launch of his “Jeans”, one of her first hit films.

“When we explained to her the significance of ‘Rettaichuzhi’ and the cast of the film, she immediately agreed. It’s not just her beauty but her commitment towards her profession, which has made her a great actress,” Shankar said.

The audio cassettes and CDs of “Rettaichuzhi” were released by Aishwarya and accepted by noted lyricist Vairamuthu, who once described her as a “Taj Mahal weighing 50 kilograms” in one of his lyrics for the film “Jeans”.

Aishwarya said she was proud to be part of the Tamil film fraternity and took many by surprise when she spoke in fluent Tamil and later switched backed to English.

“It’s an honour for me to have been present at this place among legends like Balachander and Bharathiraaja and I feel proud about it. I also feel happy that a woman is treated so respectfully at a public function like this,” she said.

“I can never forget the Tamil film industry and director Shankar in my life. Shankar’s ‘Jeans’ was my first successful film. The many things I learnt during the making of the film gave me enough self-confidence that I could continue to act for a few more years.

“I feel even more proud to be part of Shankar’s ‘Endhiran’ opposite superstar Rajnikanth…I watched a few songs and some sequences from ‘Rettaichuzhi’…I think Karthick Raaja’s music and tunes are excellent. I would surely watch the film in future,” Aishwarya added.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai to pay musical tribute to 70’s couples br/

New Delhi, Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai will take the audiences down memory lane in a song in “Action Replayy”, a musical tribute to leading Bollywood couples of the 1970s.

“This song, which will be shot in Manali, starts in a playful manner and then goes on to salute the stylish romance that was a trademark of the 1970s,” said director Vipul Shah in a press statement.

The song is composed by Pritam Chakraborty and the lyrics are “Nakhre nakhre nakhre, nakhre hain naatak re, nakhre nakhre nakhre tu peeche hi rakh re.”

“The five couples whom Akshay and Aishwarya will pay a tribute to in the five-minute song will be Amitabh-Jaya, Dharmendra-Hema, Rishi-Neetu, Rajesh-Mumtaz and Shashi-Parveen,” said a source.

“Since the film has a retro feel, Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya will be dressed just like these legendary couples did in their films. The unit is currently planning how to choreograph the song,” added the source.

Another fact that has created a buzz is Akshay’s dance numbers in the film that instantly remind the audience of John Travolta in the 1977 hit “Saturday Night Fever”.

source: bollywoodworld.com