Mani Ratnam's Raavana bomb shell

Mani Ratnam was shooting for an action sequence and he took inspiration from a real life incident that almost killed him in 1995.

His film Bombay had just released and he had been in his home in Chennai when a bomb had blasted near him in mid air. He escaped by a few seconds and now he decided to use that experience in Raavana. He got action director Sham Kaushal to blast a petrol bomb mid air, seconds before it hits the ground, just a few feet from south actor Vikram (who plays Rama in the film). Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and other actors were in the frame too. Sham arranged for someone to throw the bomb from a distance of 25 feet so that it blasted in mid air about 15 feet from the actors. Fortunately for everyone, the sequence was shot without any injuries.

Raavana has Vikram, Ash and Abhishek Bachchan in the lead roles.