Bipasha is Raavan’s wife

The secret is out, Bipasha Basu will play Abhishek Bachchan’s wife in Mani Ratnam’s Raavana.

Everyone was under the impression that Aishwarya Rai would play Abhi’s onscreen wife as well, but trust Mani Ratnam to turn things around. Aishwarya who plays Sita in the film has Vikram playing her husband and Mani had been searching for an actress who would suit Abhishek as Raavan’s wife Mandodari and soon settled for Bipasha Basu, who readily accepted the role.

Sources reveal, “Bipasha had accepted the role a month ago but being the secretive person that Mani is, he gave Bipasha strict instructions to keep it all hush hush. Bipasha has a 40 minute role in the film along with a sizzling item number. She starts shooting for Mani by mid September once she finishes her shoot for Priyadarashan’s film with Akshaye Khanna and Ajay Devgan. Her costumes are ready and the wait is on for her to complete her scenes with Abhishek Bachchan.”

News is Sushmita Sen was originally offered the role but she politely turned it down.Considering Aishwarya Rai has always been her arch-nemesis, it really didn’t come as a surprise.

About Mandodari
Although Ravana married several times, Mandodari, who was his Queen Consort- his favourite. Mandodari too loved Ravana very much. She always wished well for him and tried to keep him on the right path. She always protested humbly to his misdeeds. When Ravana abducted Sita, Mandodari gently tried to convince him that he should not lock horns with Rama and let Sita go back to her husband. Instead of reprimanding her, Ravana used to laugh whenever she insisted that he should behave righteously. It is believed that Mandodari had invented chess.