Vidya Balan's sister Priyamani is making her Bollywood debut with Mani Ratnam's Raavan. The South actress plays the important character of Raavan's (Abhishek Bachchan) sister Shoorpankha.

A source from the unit reveals, "Mani's production team initially approached the South top actress Nayantara for the role of Shoorpankha but she refused. Also many top Bollywood actresses were approached for the role of Shoorpankha but they refused it because they didn't want to play Abhishek Bachchan's sister. Abhishek is a dishy actor, and not many actresses want to ruin their chances of being paired romantically opposite him by playing his sister in Raavan."

Priyamani will play Shoorpankha in the Tamil and Hindi versions, just like Aishwarya is playing Sita in both versions.

Priyamani won the National Film Award for her role in the Tamil film Paruthi Veeran (2006). She also won a Filmfare South Award for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha (2008).