‘It was exhausting’

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan says her role in Raavan has been the most challenging, physically and mentally, to play. Compounding the demands of the role was the fact that Ash plays Ragini in both the Hindi and Tamil versions of the film, and each daring stunt had to be performed twice.
“It was exhausting for me to do the same character two times,” said Ash. “I am abducted in the movie and have been pushed, pulled and thrown in a river, twice over in the film. Since Mani likes to film scenes in one go, as soon as we would finish shooting the Hindi scenes, he’d want to shoot the Tamil ones. He would immediately change the actors for the Tamil version and ask us to switch to Tamil dialogues — incidentally, a language I didn’t know. Then I was required to act as though I was drowning even though I know swimming. I had to recreate the scene without a break, without showing that I was challenged in any way. As soon as I got dry, Mani would ask me to get wet again for the scene,” says Ash of the travails involved in playing Ragini.
However, there were compensations as Ash could relate to Ragini, who is depicted as a strong woman and a classical dancer. “Ragini is married to Dev, a man on the right side of law. She is abducted by Beera, who wants to seek revenge on Dev. However, when she is abducted, she discovers Beera as an intriguing character on her journey,” reveals Ash.
Ash admits there were other compensations as well. Working with hubby Abhishek and south star Vikram has been an amazing experience. “They have both done excellent jobs as Beera and Veera in the Hindi and Tamil versions respectively. Vikram is probably senior to us in terms of his career graph in the South. But he is working for the first time in a Hindi movie and I could understand his trepidation since I am new to Tamil too. Like me, he also had to switch from Tamil to Hindi since he is playing Abhishek’s role in the Tamil version,” says Ash.
Ash also explained that Abhishek is not essaying the role of Raavan per se. He plays Beera Maati, an outlaw, who is considered the protector of society’s have-nots. His character may not have ten heads, but does have various facets to his personality. He also has a strange penchant for talking to himself, indicative of the “ten heads” within himself, said Ash.