South superstar Chiyaan Vikram has shared screen space with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Raavan, Raavanan, Ponniyin Selvan I, and Ponniyin Selvan II. Interestingly, both the projects have been directed by Mani Ratnam and deal with the theme of forbidden love. Earlier this year, Vikram spoke about the 'unrequited love' between the characters played by him and Aishwarya Rai on screen.
Speaking to the popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, the Cobra star said, "I would love people to watch Raavanan, the Tamil version. It’s a very interesting film, the way Mani sir has crafted it; the way he dwelled on that character, it’s unrequited love...Because it’s about Raavan and Ram, in the north, it wasn’t accepted immediately. And because of that, we felt the backlash in the South also. Mani sir is a master craftsman, and the way he got us to perform...He would never tell us how to act, he would create a scene. If Aishwarya is there, and she leaves me and goes, he would say, 'You’re a kid, and you got lost in the trade fair, and you think it’s the end of the world, and that’s what’s happening here.' That scene isn’t there, but the way he can conjure up an image... I’m very proud of my performance in the film, and it’s all thanks to Mani sir."
"It really was tricky, because it was about Ram and Sita and he could not do anything that’s questionable. It was a love story about Raavan and Sita but he could not really elevate or amplify that. How close could you come to that without risking the wrath of people? The way he handled it is very poetic", Vikram said. He added that the same dynamic was repeated in the Ponniyin Selvan movies. "Again it’s Aishwarya and me, again she’s somebody else’s wife, again he loves her and she’s the love of his life and he dies because of her. It’s the same thing, and again it got repeated, but Raavanan started it all", the actor concluded.
Vikram also talked about his equation with Abhishek Bachchan in his interview with the YouTuber Siddharth Kannan. He said, "Abhishek is a very close friend of mine so automatically, the family becomes friends too. The thing is, Aishwarya and I, have very good on-screen chemistry, like whether it was Raavan or whether it was Ponniyin Selvan and both were unrequited love, in both she was somebody else's wife and I got killed in both. She is very committed, a perfectionist and we are very good friends but Abhishek is like a very, very close friend."
Abhishek and Aishwarya had tied the knot with each other in 2007 and welcomed their daughter Aaradhya in 2011. In the last couple of months, the couple has been subjected to rumours and reports about their separation. But neither of them has given any clarification or responded to these rumours as yet.
READ | India's most expensive film had 3 superstars, 2 crew members died, producer was arrested, still became highest-grosser
The DNA app is now available for download on the Google Play Store. Please download the app and share your feedback with us.
