Raw, rustic and extravagantly real this was the feeling everybody was going through during the launch of Mani Ratnam next epic ‘Raavan’ starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Govinda and Ravi Kissen, the most extravagant music launch in recent times was a gala affair which featured performances by composer of the film A R Rahman and actor Abhishek Bachchan. Aishwarya Rai played the beautiful host at the Yashraj Studios, where a huge set resembling a forest was erected which effectively created raw and rustic feel of Mani Ratnam's epical adaptation true to Mani Ratnam words ‘Keep it real’.

The event for an hour which kicked off with the attention grabbing promo of the film while Abhishek Bachchan performed to a thumping track from the film and Rahman sang a specially created piece for the evening giving it a grand finale.

Before the songs where shown to the guest and the media Aishwarya shared some interesting moments from the film, she said, “There were snakes and leeches around and we were drenched in water most of the time." Since the film was shot in two languages, Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, it was all the more challenging, she added.

‘Raavan’ is Rahman's first Bollywood release after his Grammy win. The film's music has a folksy and regional feel to it, keeping in line with the films story line. With six tracks, the songs are penned by veteran lyricist Gulzar.

Also present at the event was South Indian actor Vikram who couldn’t stop praising Mani Ratnam and his co-star Abhishek.

It was certainly a night to remember where Mani Ratnam loyals like Shaad Ali, Santosh Sivan where present along with Bollywood big wigs like Vindhu Vinod Chopra, Reliance Big Cinemas head Amit Khanna and other prominent personalities from the industry.

The Mozart of Madras in his all humbleness said, “It was great working on the film."

Well there’s no doubt if it’s the deadly combo of Mani Ratnam, A.R. Rehman and Gulzar saab in the film starring Abhishek and Aishwarya then it has to be magical and the music launch gave a strong signal that on June 18 of this year ‘Raavan’ is gonna rock at a screen near you.

Click here to see - Music Launch of ‘Raavan’ - Gallery

Listen to 'Raavan' songs on Raaga.com