Ace director Mani Ratnam, the shooting of whose latest multilingual
film Ravana was stopped by the Kerala Forest department last week, has
been given conditional sanction on Tuesday to continue shooting in the
Malayatoor forest near Kochi. Earlier, shooting was stopped on Friday
and the forest officials asked the crew to pack up after they found
that the crew had constructed huts inside the forest, which was
against the terms of sanction.

According to new sanction, the crew numbers are restricted to 150.
Shooting is permitted between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. only. There should not
be any fight scenes in the location and no bushes or trees should be
destroyed. No plastic material can be used. Besides, the filmmakers
have been asked to remit a fee of Rs. 10,000 per day of shooting. The
number of vehicles allowed inside the forest has also been drastically
reduced. Reports said that the case registered by the forest
department will continue.

Prior to the violations, all what they were charged was a mere Rs.
1,000 for the entire duration of the shoot. Bollywood stars Abhishek
Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, who are part of the project, are expected
to arrive next week. Prominent stars like Vikram, Govinda, Prithviraj
and Priyamani will also participate. Reports indicate that the filming
inside the forest included a battle where over 500 people were to take
part.

Mani Ratnam is making this film in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously.
Vikram will play the villain while Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai
is the lead pair in Hindi; Vikram will play the lead opposite
Aishwarya in Tamil. The film is based on the grand epic Ramayana.