Where is Ashwariya Rai Bachan these days? The former miss world is shooting in the Nilgiri hills in south India for her forthcoming Tamil movie ‘Endhiran’ (the robot).
Rai who made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film ‘Iruvar’ (1997) and had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie ‘Jeans’ (1998) is busy honing Tamil skills, nearly a decade after she shot into fame in the Indian film industry.
The entire Endhiran unit was initially sceptical about Ashwariya’s Tamil dialogue delivery and was even prepared to have her several retakes was surprised when the Bollywood actress came up with near perfection with her lines in Tamil.
“Ashwariya had surprised everyone as with little effort she got the hang of the language and even gave the feel of its emotions,” said a translator working on the sets of ‘Endhiran’ in Ooty.
“Every one including director Shanker and Rajnikant were impressed with Ashwariya Rai’s quick grasp of the language and her near perfection dialogue delivery. The ‘Endhiran’ unit is planning to retain her Tamil lines in the final print and do not feel the need for dubbing her voice with any other Tamil artist,” said the translator working with the actress on her language skills.
Rai whose acting career is on a tailspin since her marriage is looking for a major break through this science-fiction film starring Tamil superstar Rajnikant. The movie is directed by ace Tamil filmmaker S. Shankar and its musical score is composed by iconic music director AR Rahman.
Endhiran is a bi lingual film, simaltaniusly made in Tamil and Hindi with an estimated cost of over 150 crores, the highest ever budget for a Tamil film. Ashwariya Rai Bachhan has reportedly been signed in this movie for 6 crores rupees, making her the highest paid actress in India.
Endhiran was initially named “The Robot” was unable to keep the English title because of the Tamil Nadu government’s policy to give tax exemption to films only with Tamil titles. So its first name that was suggested was: Iyandiran or Iyandira, both literal translations of Robot, but finally a concensus emerged for “Endhiran.”
The first shooting schedule of the movie started on September 8, 2008 at Peru. Here, a song picturisation featuring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai was shot at the historic site of the Machu Picchu. Other scenes for this song were picturised in the United States and Brazil.
The shooting for the second schedule was held in Goa, where the initial talkie portions was filmed for ten days. The third schedule was held in Himachal Pradesh where a song was picturised. This was followed by shooting schedules in and around Chennai.
Art director Sabu Cyril had a major portion of the climax scene shot at a location behind a major entertainment complex on the East Coast Road, in Chennai.
Sabu erected a new set with a cost of around Rs.5 crore, the most expensive set ever put up for a Tamil film. He had used new material of Aluminum composite panel (ACP) which are eco-friendly and could be recycled and costs only one third of the wood.
Some scenes featuring a Robotics conference involving Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai, was shot at SSN College of Engineering Chennai as well as at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), with over four hundred students being used as extras.
The movie has generated a lot of curiosity not only for big budget and Ashwariya’s stint with the Tamil language but also for other reasons associated with the former beauty queen.
In this movie, Ashwariya for the first will be seen doing martial arts. The actress has been training herself in Karate from a noted stunt master Ramesh who is running a Japan Shito-Ryu karate school in Chennai for last 30 years.
“Aishwarya Rai has been a quick learner and have able to repeat the karate movements quite easily,” says Ramesh who has also acted in Mani Rathnam’s Iruvar (1997) Rai’s first ever film.
“In Endhiran Aishwarya and the other girls in the film will be learning Karate from its hero Rajnikant who is already trained in Karate, says Ramesh, adding that some of its interesting scenes were recently shot in the VIT campus in Chennai.
The production of “Endhiran” has other highlights as well. An exciting opening song scene that features a number of Rajinikant and Aiswarya Rai was recently shot at a gigantic set at Ramojirao Film City Hyderabad. About 1000 artists danced along with Rajini and Aiswarya for the song whose estimated cost is pegged around Rs.3 crore rupees.
Endhiran which is slated for release later this year, is racing for the completion of its shooting schedules. The ongoing Ooty schedule is part of the series of the talkie portions that was filmed Cearlier in Goa. With this movie Ashwariya Rai is definitely looking for a comeback trail in Indian cinema./ ens/
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai.He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo,com