It was a close shave for director Mani Ratnam and his crew including actress Aishwarya Rai and actor Vikram, who were shooting in the dense forests of Kerala when a rogue elephant went berserk killing its mahout.

Meanwhile, the shooting has been called off and is likely to be moved to Udhagamandalam.  

Mani Ratnam and his team were shooting for Ravan in Kerala when the mishap occurred. Abhishek Bachchan is playing the lead role in the Hindi version while Vikram dons the same in Tamil. Aishwarya is the heroine in both versions.

Actors and actresses including Abhishek, Aishwarya, Vikram, Prabhu and Munna had to rush for cover after the elephant went on the rampage.

According to sources, the film personalities spent the whole night in a forest guest house. Further, they said the shooting in Kerala had been  called off following the mishap. None of the actors nor those from the crew were injured in the mishap occurred at around 3.30 p.m yesterday.

The elephant called ‘Kunju,’ which was brought from Thrissur, went wild  and killed its mahout. Later, it is said to have stood at the middle of the road.

Fearing their safety, the cast and crew including Aishwarya rushed to a nearby guest house where over 100 persons were lodged. They spent the night waiting for the elephant to return to ‘normal.’

According to sources, the artistes managed by taking bread and eggs. After 12 hours of waiting and tension, the crew returned to their hotel.

It is said that Mani Ratnam has decided to stop shooting and return to Chennai in a couple of days. The rest of the film would be canned in Udhagamandalam, sources added.

It may be recalled that the shooting for the movie was delayed after Mani Ratnam suffered a cardiac arrest and was advised rest for a month. The shooting resumed only recently.