Kerala government stops Mani Ratnam's shooting!

The Kerala Forest Department has stopped the shoot of Mani Ratnam’s Ravana in Hindi and Tamil in the forest areas of Mulankuzhi in Malayatoor forest range near Kochi in Kerala.

The beautiful green Mulankuzhi forest in Malayatoor where film shooting has not been allowed so far is a prime spot for eco-tourism. Mani it seems due to his political connections with the CPI (M) government in Kerala was given special permission to shoot in this virgin forest area.

However the forest officials found that Mani had constructed temporary thatched huts in prohibited areas inside the forest, after five days of shoot. So on Friday (Oct 10) evening after the forest department found the violation, they immediately ordered the shooting to be stopped. The film unit claim that they had put up the temporary huts to put their costly equipments from the incessant rains in the area.

Mani was given special permission to shoot for 25 days, and he had only shot five days for the Tamil version with Vikram, Pritviraj, Priyamani and others. Now since the unit has been found to violate forest laws, the special sanction has been withdrawn and Mani has been asked to vacate from the forest land.

Meanwhile the environmentalist in Kerala has also been up in arms, and they are asking uncomfortable question on why Mani was given special permission to shoot in Mulankuzhi forest area?