Mani Ratnam, one of India's finest film-makers, owes his success to his ability to set new trends in film making, plot lines and direction. His films showcase technical wizardry, beautifully co-coordinated plot sequences, excellent photography, peppy songs and well-synchronized song sequences. The veteran director is currently busy with his big budget bilingual Raavanan in Tamil, Raavan in Hindi and dubbed in Telugu as Villain.

Raavanan, said to be the modern adaptation of the epic Ramayana, revolves around Raavana, the ruler of Lanka, who kidnapped Sita. The story culminates with Sita supporting Raavana instead of Rama, who suspects her chastity after having spent so much time in Raavana's custody.

The star cast of the Tamil version has Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj, Priyamani, Karthik, Prabhu and Munna. Vikram plays the villain in the Hindi version, where Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are the lead pair. (Vikram is the hero opposite Aishwarya in Tamil.) Karthik and Prabhu, two of Mani's favourite heroes, will play vital roles that will be similar to those of Ramayan's Vibheeshan and Hanuman respectively. Karthik will play an extremely humble and compassionate forest officer who goes out of his way to help the hero of the film - just like Hanuman of Ramayan took so much effort to help Ram.

How do the characters of Mani Ratnam's film (Tamil version) match with those of Ramayan? Aishwarya Rai - Sita; Vikram - Raavan; Prithviraj - Ram; Priyamani - Shoorpanaka; Prabhu - Vibheeshan; Karthik - Hanuman.

What makes Raavanan unique (besides acting) is its music. A.R. Rahman is back with a vengeance and has given his best. He has done it in the past for Mani Ratnam in Dil Se, Bombay, Guru and has did it again in Raavanan. Besides these, Bollywood heart throb Aishwarya Rai will dub in her own voice for the Tamil version.

According to the official website, the story goes thus: Police officer Dev (Prithviraj) falls in love with a spunky classical dancer Ragini (Aishwarya Rai). They get married and Dev is posted in Vikramasingarapuram, a small tribal town in South India. Enter Veera, the warlord and law enforcer who controls the people of the town. In one stroke Dev manages to upset Veera's world and change his fortunes.

An injured enraged Veera hits back by kidnapping Ragini. He takes her into the dense, confusing and scary jungle. The dense forest becomes the battleground between Dev and Veera.

The battle between Dev and Veera, good and evil, Ram and Raavan! Who will win? Watch out for Raavanan, which is all set to grace theatres on June 18, 2010.

To listen to Raavanan songs, click here

Raavanan Event Photo Gallery

Raavanan Photo Gallery

Aishwarya Rai photo gallery

Vikram Photo Gallery

Prithviraj Photo Gallery