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Confirmed: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to star in Indo-American project The Letter

Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who recently finished filming for the first part of Mani Ratnam's much-awaited magnum-opus Ponniyin Selvan, has reportedly signed on to star in an Indo-American film. Titled The Letter, the film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s compilation of three novellas Three Women. Fusion singer and theatre writer-director Isheeta Ganguly is set to direct.

Confirming the news, Ganguly told an Indian publication, “Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing the main protagonist in the film. While the play was called Three Women, we are changing the name and have titled our film The Letter as the film is based around the letter of Kadambari Devi who was Tagore’s sister-in-law. I am really glad that Aishwarya loved the script and agreed to be a part of my directorial debut."


Ganguly had planned the film in Hindi but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan suggested she make it in English instead. “Aishwarya and I were in discussion before the pandemic happened. I was originally looking to make it as a Hindi film. When she read the script, she felt that the film would fly in English given the urban American sensibilities of the story. It was her conviction that I decided to make it into an Indo-American film,” Ganguly revealed.

The Letter will be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s second book-to-film adaptation right after Ponniyin Selvan, which is also based on a book of the same name. The Mani Ratman directorial also stars Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram Prabhu, and Nasser to name a few. The first part of the film releases in 2022.

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Highlights

  • Yash says he humanised Ravana to help global audiences relate to the character.
  • Asura designs in the first glimpse drew criticism for looking too Western-inspired.
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Yash, who plays the demon king Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, says his portrayal was shaped by one clear goal: making the character relatable beyond Indian audiences.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, where the film was presented alongside major Hollywood releases, the actor said he worked to strip away the purely mythological reading of the role.

"I have tried to internalise the whole essence of Ravana and tried to make him as human as possible at times," Yash told Reuters.

"It is important for people to relate to him, and since we have global ambitions, we need to make it familiar to a Western audience as well."

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