March 9, 2009 3:04:22 PM IST Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network

Mani Ratnam's next directorial venture, RAVANA, is getting more and more interesting with each passing day. Boasting of two superstars, Vikram from the South and Ravi Kishen from Bhojpuri films (East), and of course, Bollywood's hottest couple, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai (after the success of GURU), the film is turning out to be an exciting and a much awaited venture.

CHECK OUT: Even I am waiting for the release of KHALLBALLI

With the news that promising newcomer, Nikhil Dwivedi of MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES (MNIAG) and the upcoming KHALLBALLI fame has joined the elite star cast of RAVANA, things only seem to be getting bigger and better. Nikhil is said to be playing a small but very crucial role in the film, based somewhat on Bhagwan Ram's brother Laxman. Naturally, the Shah Rukh Khan (of DEEWAANA days!) look alike is very excited with the prospects of working under ace director Mani Ratnam. Buzz has it that Mani was very impressed with Nikhil's debut performance in MNIAG and chose him for a very important role in RAVANA. However, there is no confirmation of it from Mani himself, who wants to keep things under as much wraps as possible in case of RAVANA!

While on Nikhil Dwivedi, his KHALLBALLI-FUN UNLIMITED was scheduled to release this month but is getting delayed because of the on going dispute between the producers and the multiplex owners over revenue sharing and will see the light of the day as soon as the matter is settled amicably.