In pics: Rajnikanth's Endhiran in Goa

One of the most awaited films of 2009, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Southern superstar Rajnikant’s Endhiran were recently in Goa.

Set on a budget of 165 crores, Rajnikanth plays a robot in the film while Aishwarya will be seen as his wife.

In Endhiran Rajnikanth will be seen in a double role – as the scientist Vaseegaran who develops the robot and also as the robot who then falls in love with Ash. The film is expected to release by end of 2009 or 2010.

The film is directed by Shankar and was initially set to star Shah Rukh Khan.

Ash on the sets of Endhiran in Brazil

After enhancing the beauty of Brazilian beaches in Dhoom 2, Ash returns to the exotic locales of Brazil and Peru in South America to shoot for sci-fi thriller Endhiran with Rajnikanth. The film, budgeted at Rs. 165 crore will release in 2009.

Aishwarya Rai with a local at Machu Pichu, Peru


Red-clad Ash with the white-clad Peruvian dancers


Ash getting her make up done at this gorgeous white sand desert oasis


Gorgeous Ash poses with a tourist


Don't Look at Me is what Ash seems to say


Aishwarya Rai and Rajnikanth pose with tourists and fans who visited their set at Machu Pichu in Peru


Ash, in colourful clothes with make up that enhances the beauty of her eyes, doing what she does best


Rajnikanth in a song sequence with Peruvian dancers


The quintessential Bollywood hero and heroine moment.

Endhiran's plot

Endhiran, the Tamil sci-fi film initially titled Robot, stars Rajnikanth in a double role and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The film is being directed by Sivaji director S. Shankar.

A source working on the film revealed the plot. “Rajnikanth plays a scientist and the robot named Endhiran.” said the source.

“The film is set in 2200 AD and he is a famous scientist who is in love with Aishwarya. But later, he is asked to create robots. Trouble ensues when his creation, Endhiran, starts to show emotion and falls in love with Aishwarya. There is a major twist in the film and this is the USP of Endhiran.”

Work on the film began on February 15, 2008 in Chennai, with a photo shoot. But the actual shooting began only a few months ago. A little before New Year, Aishwarya was shooting with Rajnikanth in Chennai.

This film has a budget of Rs.120 crores and will be released on April 14, 2010.

Aishwarya Rai, Rajnikanth complete second 'Endhiran' shooting schedule

'Endhiran - The Robot' stars Aishwarya Rai and Rajnikanth completed another week long shooting schedule on location in Goa on Sunday, October 12. A new schedule is expected to start soon.

The break in filming must have come as a welcome relief to a worried Aishwarya, whose father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan who was hospitalized on his 66th birthday on Saturday, October 11, for severe abdominal pain.

According to a family statement, Bachchan is currently in Lilavati Hospital and will stay there for the next two days to undergo tests.

It is being reported that he is suffering from incisional hernia, a condition that has dogged him since the near-fatal accident on the sets of Coolie in 1982.

The producers of the Sci-Fi film, Ayngaran, have released another promotional still that shows Rajnikanth, 58, sporting long hair and French beard, attired like a noble of the Mughal empire, amidst guards dressed like Roman soldiers! Bollywood at its best, you may say!

The FX heavy movie is being simultaneously produced in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and other languages.

Rajini- Ash, the hot attractions of Goa

Superstar Rajinikanth is the new attraction of Goa, the heaven on earth for the tourists around the world.

Most of the visitors want to have a glimpse of the Indian matinee idol who is now camping in Miramar Road, Panaji along with the ravishing beauty of the country Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

In this 12 days long schedule, Director Shankar is planning to complete a duet of Rajini - Aish and some fierce stunt sequences of the Superstar.

Though director Shankar has arranged for a tight security cover for the entire unit, he cannot control the hard core fans of Rajinikanth who always want to have a Darshan of their silver screen god. According to a tourist who got a chance to visit the site, every moment in the shooting spot looks like a carnival of rejoice.

It is simply miraculous. Rajini's looks in the sets are very young and terrific.

Hope the pictures recently taken in the sets of Enthiran Goa shoot published here will prove the words of the visitor.

Aishwarya Rai hurries her Robot shoot to join Abhishek for Drona premiere!

Aishwarya Rai is currently wrapping her Robot film shoot in hurry to arrive back in India, just to be with her hubby, Abhishek Bachchan on October 1st for his film, Drona’s premiere in Mumbai.

Confirming us the news, Aish’s secretary Hari Singh said, “Aishwarya was in Peru till last week for a song shoot of Shankar’s Endhiran (formerly called Robot) starring South super star Rajnikant. Now presently she is shooting for the film in the rain forests of Brazil. She wants to be with Abhishek’s side on his big day on October 1st. She is as excited as him to check him out in his first super hero avatar”.

One can remember, Abhishek making a late entry for Aishwarya’s Jodhaa Akbar premiere held on February 14th at the Imax Multiplex in Wadala, Mumbai. Abhishek was shooting in Jaipur that time for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Dilli 6. He was to reach on time but a flight delay made him arrive at the venue at around 11:30 pm just when the film was about to finish.

But Aish won’t be late and will attend the premiere along with Abhi. As Hari Singh has added, “Aishwarya will be reaching Mumbai a night before the premiere”.

A source further added, “Before the grand premiere, a special show will be kept just for the Bachchans. Amitabh and Jaya early next week at a Mumbai preview theatre by director Goldie Behl. Goldie is like family to the Bachchans and he wants to show them the film first before anyone else. Abhishek is a bundle of nerves and would most probably avoid being present at this special show”.

Exclusive: Ash shooting for a song with Rajnikanth for 'Robot'!

The moment one mentions of the word Robot, the first thing that comes to mind is that of gadgets and gizmos. But the south India based ace director Shankar has vowed to change it all, for he is making a movie with the same name and stars none other than…hold your breath... Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai! OK...you can breathe now. For those who wake up to Bollywood know about the controversy dodging this film. But for the innocent and ignorant ones, here it goes. The film was initially to star SRK nonetheless. But due to 'creative differences' (read 'unmentionable differences'), he opted out of the film. Not just that, SRK reportedly also registered all the names that sounds even remotely like 'Robots'. The news is that now Shankar has renamed the film as Enthiram. Exit SRK and in comes Shivaji Rao Gaekwad better known as Rajnikanth, the man with a tagline of 'There's nothing that Rajni-CANT!'

Shankar, on his part is leaving no stone unturned as far as the shooting of the film is concerned. Recently, he shot for a song with the awesome twosome of Rajni-Ash at the UNESCO declared world famous heritage site Machu Pichhu. With this, Shankar takes the man responsible for shooting the first Indian film here! Whoever said that ostriches are not desirable will surely eat their words out, after they have a look at Ash (who looks simply awesome with those ostrich feathers) in the adjoining picture! Not just that, news also has it that Shankar will be shooting for his film in the most desirable (read 'dream') locations like Peru, South America etc...

One wonders will SRK's loss be Rajni's gain? Well, is that a question to be asked!

Aishwarya Rai hikes her price to a throbbing six crores!

Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai has hiked her price to a throbbing six crores per movie. The ace actress has pocketed home a bomb of money for her Tamil movie �Enthiram� opposite Tamil superstar Rajinikanth.

According to reports, the Bachchan bahurani was granted such a huge amount by the producers, after she agreed to work in the flick in spite of being heavily tied up in lieu of the fact that as she had in the past (due to indispensable reasons) turned down two projects with Rajini and was very guilty of it.

Thus, the breathtaking beauty impressed the producers with her commitment and forced them to meet her market demands. With this monetary hike, Rai will be in the league of Bollywood�s highest paid actresses which also includes- Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.

Wonder, what hubby Abhishek has to say about the newest development in his ladylove�s life? As for now, let us leave him alone to count the money!

Rajni, Ash clash

Aishwarya Rai may be excited about Shankar’s magnum opus, Robot but sources reveal the actress is having a hard time matching her dates with co-star Rajnikanth. Before Ash confirmed her name for the project, there was buzz that she wasn’t interested in the film. However the reason behind Ash’s reluctance stemmed from the fact that she would have to commit bulk dates for the project.

A source close to the project reveals, “Shankar wanted two months of back-to-back dates from Ash. But she wasn’t in a position to commit for the required dates. However Shankar needed those particular dates, as they matched with Rajni’s. He’s been having a tough time trying to coordinate their dates for the film.”

Since the film is being made on a lavish budget, Shankar doesn’t want to take any risk and incur losses. Another reason that’s worrying Shankar is that Robot’s plot has leaked and he wants to make sure he goes on the floors before anyone else picks up the idea.

The director has decided to go ahead and start the shoot with Ash and Rajnikanth separately. “He is shooting their solo scenes first and then will coordinate the joint scenes as and when their dates match.” The casting took time since Shah Rukh and Deepika backed out and had to be replaced with Rajnikanth and Ash. Now Shankar wants to make sure that the project doesn’t get delayed due to any date issues.

Tushar Joshi, Mid-Day

Aishwarya confirms acting in ‘Robot’

There was news making the rounds yesterday that we might not get to see the Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai acting opposite our superstar in the sci-fi flick ‘Robot’. The reason that was sighted that she wanted to have babies before she hits 35.

But Aishwarya herself has quashed all rumors and confirmed that she will be acting as Rajini’s heroine in Shankar-directed ‘Robot’. She has confirmed this in her latest interview to a private news channel.

Talks are going on that Aish will star in on more Manirathnam film soon. This film will be a bilingual in Hindi and tamil. The best part is that Aish will get to act opposite her Husband Abhishek Bachchan in this film too. The earlier film we saw the coming together of this real-life pair was in Manirathnam film ‘Guru’.

This whooping 125-crore big-budget film will soon start rolling, and we have reports that Aish has already received a whooping sum as advance for her role in this film. Aish has said that she has liked the script of ‘Robot’ in which she gets to essay a very different and novel role.

Now folks this confirmation from the lady herself has quashed all rumors suggesting that the Rajini-Aishwarya pair is jinxed!

IndiaGlitz

Aish wants babies, not 'Robot' ?

The dream project of director Shankar featuring Rajinikanth has met with a stumbling block its heroine Aishwarya Rai said to be keen in having a baby before she turns 35 (on November 1, 2008). It is strongly rumoured that the Bachchan bahu, who was offered a whooping amount of Rs. 6 crore to act in 'Robot', has conveyed the 'Robot' team about her “inability” to act in the film.

The news, if confirmed would be a major setback for the team, which was gearing up for the shooting to be commenced by June this year. Shankar and co are now in a fix as they face the tough task of finding a replacement to the most sought after girl in Indian film industry.

It is not the first time the pairing of Rajini and Ash is jinxed. She has been in the reckoning for Rajini’s movie since the time of 'Padayappa'. It may be recalled that Simran too withdrew from 'Chandramukhi' stating the same reason, i.e., to have a child.

As things stand now, 'Robot' unit is in the hunt for a new actress, who could fit the role.

IndiaGlitz

Aish: The costliest heroine!

The latest buzz over Shankar-Rajini’s next film ‘Robot’ is that the former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who acts as the leading lady to superstar will be paid a whooping 6 crore rupees. The most sought after actress of India touches the highest mark in terms of salary received by any actress in Indian history.

‘Robot’ is in fact creating a history of sorts. It is the costliest film ever made in the subcontinent. The budget of ‘Robot’, which is made simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, is said to hit 130 crores.

Aish hasn’t received so much salary for a movie even in her Hollywood commitments. The beautiful actress, who has virtually ruled the show world for more than 10 years, is currently getting 2 crores for a Hindi movie and 4 crores for a Hollywood film.

‘Robot’ is expected get rolling floors in April ‘08. The Tamil title is expected to be announced before the commencement of the shooting.

Shankar sure seems to get what he wants though he has to pay the price.

Indiaglitz

Ash replaces Deepika in Robot

If my sources are to be believed, this could well be the casting coup of the decade. It seems Deepika Padukone has been replaced in Shankar's magnum opus, Robot. And the coveted role is all set to go to Aishwarya. It happened like this. Shankar, I am told, did consider Ash for the part, but since Shah Rukh Khan was in the picture, Aishwarya was indecisive.

News about Deepika Padukone being seriously considered for the same have been doing the rounds for some time. But it seems that after Shah Rukh opted out of the project, Deepika's name dropped out too.

So Rajni stepped in. And being a good friend of the Bachchans, he approached Amitabh all over again. And a few meetings later, Ash was finally convinced.

Whew! As for Rajini and Ash fans, if this actually works out, Robot will definitely be the film to watch out for. For Ash, this heralds a homecoming of sorts of the actress post-Iruvar. And now, let's wait and watch for the real story and all the spicy details of this coup to emerge, shall we?

Buzz18