Aishwarya Rai: Raavan's Ragini

Aishwarya plays Ragini, a classical dance teacher in Mani Ratnam’s much-awaited Raavan (Raavanan in Tamil and Villan in Telugu). The first look of the movie shows her dancing gracefully in a song . Talking about her role, she said: “This was an extremely challenging role for me. To shoot in Hindi and Tamil at the same time was quite a task. But the experience was so wonderful that if Mani sir asks me, I am ready to do it all over again.”

“Ragini is a strong woman and very relatable to the modern Indian woman. She speaks her mind. I say 'discovery' because we kept discovering fantastic locations and got to see so many places. We used to trek every morning to be on the sets. The role remained a mystery because I was playing the leading lady and there I was with no make up, no fancy clothes and all drenched in rain with mud all over. But that’s what Mani sir expects from us to keep it all as real as it can get,” she added.

Interestingly, Aishwarya Rai started her film career with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Iruvar in 1997. “I understand a bit of Tamil and speak a bit of it. For me, it is very important that I understand the meaning of my dialogues before I deliver them. I can’t just mug up the dialogues. So for Raavan, I made sure I knew what I was saying and yes, I have improved a lot on the language and I am confident about doing more Tamil stuff in future,” she revealed. “After Raavan, it was like: Come on! Bring on Robot (Endhiran),” she added.