When Mani Ratnam started shooting for his Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan starrer Raavana, everyone had been wondering if Abhishek’s real-life wife Aishwarya plays his wife in the film too. Soon news that Abhishek plays Raavana while Aishwarya plays Sita and Vikram plays her husband Rama in the film came to light. Mani had been looking for an actress who would be perfectly suited to play Ravana’s wife, Mandodari. The suspense is now over. Bipasha Basu has been signed on to play Mandodari, who was Ravana’s favourite wife.
A source from the industry says, “Bipasha immediately said yes to the role. She had agreed to do it a month ago but Mani Ratnam had given her strict instructions to not talk about it.”
“Bipasha’s costumes are ready. She is very happy with her look in the film. She is looking forward to joining the unit of Raavana,” adds our source.
Bipasha starts shooting for Raavana from mid-September. Confirming the same, a close friend of Bipasha says, “Bipasha not only has an item number in the film but also a full-fledged role, which can be termed as a special appearance. Right now, she is shooting for Priyadarashan’s film with Akshaye Khanna and Ajay Devgan. She will be shooting for 20 days for Raavana in which she has a 40-minute role.”
Earlier, Sushmita Sen was offered the role but she had turned it down for reasons best known to her. Buzz is, she didn’t want to do a film which stars her arch-rival Aishwarya.
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