Raavan's star-studded premiere in London

Mani Ratnam's much-awaited bi-lingual film Raavan had a star-studded world premiere here, attended by B-Town bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Mani Ratnam's much-awaited bi-lingual film Raavan had a star-studded world premiere here, attended by B-Town bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.
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Hundreds of film buffs gathered at the BFI, Southbank in London, where the premiere was held last night, and cheered the film's star cast who had gathered for the gala event.

Ratnam alongwith the film's stars Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Vikram were added glitter to the premiere. The film will simultaneously be released in Tamil and Hindi tomorrow.

Shah Rukh Khan and his family was invited by the senior Bachchan to the premiere and Abhishek profusely thanked him for coming.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for coming! Love you. And now waiting for you to come and fire me!(sic)" the junior Bachchan wrote on his Twitter page.

Oscar winning musician A R Rahman, who has composed the chart-topping tracks for 'Raavan', accompanied the movie's star cast which also included actors Govinda and Ravi Kishen.

Aishwariya was wearing a dark green sari with her hair tied in a bun and walked the red carpet with husband and costar Abhishek in tow who was looking dapper in a black suit.

The former Miss World was asked whether filming the movie was a taxing experience, to which she replied, "Mani Ratnam looked after our training by keeping us on our toes everyday."

"The physical demand in this film was immense not only for the actors, but also the crew and technicians. It was a challenge we tried to rise to every single day at work," she said.

Ratnam, 54, who has made films like 'Roja', 'Dil Se', 'Bombay' and 'Guru', which garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, said the film was done with spirit. "It is just a few metres away... lets see it," was all Mani Ratnam said when asked whether Raavan was modern-day 'Ramayana'.

"It has been done with spirit. We have all worked hard," he added. Asked why he chose Aishwarya for the lead role, he said, "She was right for it. Is there any other reason?"