Veteran film maker Mani Ratnam suffered the third heart attack of his life on Tuesday night while deciding the music and lyrics of a song with A.R. Rahman and Gulzar at a recording studio in Chennai. He checked himself into Apollo Hospital and is absolutely fine now. But the shooting of the film will be delayed for three months.
A source tells us, "Mani Ratnam's heart attack will cause the film's shooting to be delayed for three months. As a result of this, the film will not release this year as planned."
52 year old Mani Ratnam suffered his first heart attack in Goa during the International Film Festival of India in 2004, then his second one on the sets of Guru in Kolkata in 2006. So this is his third heart attack in five years.
About Abhishek Bachchan, our source says, "Raavan would have been Abhishek's second release this year after the debacle of Delhi-6. The success of Raavan is really important to him because multi-starrer Dostana in 2008 was his last hit and the much anticipated Delhi-6 didn't live up to expectations. The combination of Abhishek and Mani Ratnam has always worked, as we have seen in Yuva and Guru, which were commercial and critical successes. Abhishek was also praised immensely for his intense performances in both films. Abhishek has also lost 15 KGs and got a new look for this film, replete with a short crop and trimmed beard."
Abhishek is not working on anything besides Raavan. The shooting for Ritesh Sidhwani's Crooked, directed by Abhinay Deo (of Delhi Belly) a spy flick with wife Aishwarya hasn't started yet as the film is in early stages of pre-production stages Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra wants to cast the Bachchan family in a film based on classical music called Bhairavi. Abhishek has also lost a role in Chandraprakash Dwivedi's Kunal Avadan (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Arjun Rampal) to Abhimanyu Singh (of Gulaal).
"He had a few minutes of breathing difficulty and dizziness. There is no need for any panic as the director is healthy and likely to be discharged after routine check-up and a day's rest. He may resume work shortly," the source said.
With a history of cardiac problems since the making of multilingual film Yuva (2003), Ratnam is resting in Apollo Hospital, the source added.
The 52-year-old is currently working on Raavan starring National Award winner Vikram, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, publicists said in a press statement.
Having introduced Oscar winner A.R. Rahman to the industry through the critically acclaimed commercial success 1992 hit Roja, the multilingual filmmaker has so far made 19 films. These include Mouna Raagam, Nayagan, Anjali, Iruvar, Kannathil Muthamittal, Yuva, Roja, Bombay and Dil Se.
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