Film director Mani Ratnam is pleasantly surprised that actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has managed to keep her promise of dubbing for the Tamil version of Raavana in her own voice, says a media report.Aishwarya made a splash in the Tamil film industry with filmmaker Mani Ratnam's Iruvar in 1997, but her lines were dubbed by a professional.
Since the actress's mother tongue is Tulu, she wasn't well-versed with Tamil. However, 13 years later, Aishwarya is working with the filmmaker again for the Hindi-Tamil bilingual Raavana, and she took up the challenge to dub for it herself.
Just when Raavana was on the floors, Aishwarya assured Mani Ratnam that by the time the film was completed, she would be ready to dub her own lines for the Tamil version. Mani Ratnam took the matter lightly and had arranged for a Tamil voice which matched the actress' voice perfectly.
But Aishwarya had made up her mind. She kept laughing off Mani sir's uncertainties about her ability to get the Tamil diction right, and continued working on her language skills.” During the shooting of Raavana, a Tamil tutor coached the actress and the diligent student got her lines right within six months.
The official spokesperson for Raavana confirms, “Aishwarya has completed dubbing the Hindi version of Raavana. Now she has now begun dubbing for the Tamil version. No one can tell from her voice that she isn't a Tamilian.” Apparently, Aishwarya will also be dubbing her own lines for another Tamil film, Shankar's Endhiran, co-starring Rajnikanth.
