Will Mani Ratnam shoot in Sri Lanka | Ravana Stills | Asoka vanam Movie Gallery

Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai have completed the Athirapally- Malayatoor forest schedule of Mani Ratnam's Ravana and have left for Mumbai.
Now Mani is shooting the Tamil version of the film with Vikram, Prabhu, Karthik, Pritviraj, Priyamani and Ranjitha.
After the first schedule in the forests of Kerala is complete by November end, Mani was planning to shoot in the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the best places to see the Tigers in the wild.
But at the moment it looks bleak whether Mani will be given permission by the BJP run state government to shoot in the forests of MP, especially at a time when assembly elections are due in the state.
According to our sources in Bhopal, the BJP government has asked him to submit a script of the film as it is based on the Ramayan!
Meanwhile hush-hush plans are afoot by the unit to shoot in Kandy and surrounding forest areas in Sri Lanka where Ravana lived as per the Ramayan. Mani had shot his Kannathil Muthamittal, there a few years back. The Sri Lankan government it seems has promised that they will roll out the red carpet as Aishwarya Rai is very popular there.
But will Mani Ratnam risk being targeted by his colleagues in Kollywood? Please note Mani did not take part in the controversial solidarity meeting organized by the Tamil film directors at Rameswaram in support of "Tamils facing genocide in Sri Lanka."
And political parties in Tamilnadu will not like Mani to shoot in Sri Lanka, after accepting the hospitality of the Rajpakse government.
Poor Mani he is caught between the devil and the deep sea

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Mani Ratnam gets conditional access to forest area

Finally Mani Ratnam using his clout has managed to convince the Kerala Government, and has got conditional access to the virgin green Malayatoor reserve forest areas to shoot his Ravana.
Last Friday the shoot was suspended after Kerala forest department found unauthorized construction of thatched huts in Mani's shooting location.
However the government has put forward stiff conditions. Now they will have to pay Rs 10,000 per day for the shoot, earlier it was only Rs 1000 for the entire 25 days shoot!
During the shoot no member of the unit can smoke ( can start forest fires), nor any plastic material( mineral water bottle?) can be brought into the location.
The unit cannot consist of more than 150 people, only 10 unit vehicles (generator van, caravans for artists etc) and 15 cars including jeeps can be brought into the location.
Only one generator will be used for the shoot, Jimmy Jip cranes cannot be used for the shoot. The shooting will be allowed only during 6AM to 6PM. No night shooting will be allowed.
Mani had no option other than agreeing to these terms. His plans to shoot in Sri Lanka would never have materialized, as the war against Tamil's holed up in Northern part of the island is getting bitter.
Meanwhile Abhishek Bachchan and Aiswarya Rai will join the shoot on Friday. Already Vikram, Pritviraj and Priyamani are at the location.
It looks like Vikram will have to share his caravan with Pritviraj, due to the limited number of caravans allowed on the sets