After Kareena's 'Heroine’ debacle, Aishwarya Rai has last laugh?

For a movie that claims to put the spotlight on Bollywood politics, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Heroine’ has suffered its own share of skirmishes and clashes, with the movie changing hands between two light-eyed beauties.

Bollywood royalty Kareena Kapoor won round one, by finally winning the role, after her rival, Cannes carpet regular Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was forced to walk out due to her pregnancy.

However, Ash has won round two, as the movie recorded an unenthusiastic box-office opening and movie critics have rubbished it as "mediocre".

Scores even.

“Kareena Kapoor's performance received some praise, but considering how stale the film is, Aishwarya should probably be glad to lay no claim over it,” reported a Bollywood website. “Aishwarya should be grateful she got out of the project!”

Many viewers even speculated Ash’s joy with their fun tweets. Goddamn Batman tweeted, “The 'Rahul Dravid : Well-Left award of The Year' goes to AishwaryaRai. #Heroine”.

Tweeter Soni Khadilkar wroter, “Aishwarya Rai must be thanking her stars that she didn't do this movie #HEROINE.”

Anjana Kumar added, “I would have much preferred to watch Priyanka Chopra or Aishwarya Rai's story in ‘Heroine’. This movie is an overkill.”

Movie critics also emphasised how it wasn’t Ash who lost out.

“First things first, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan didn’t lose anything, and I say that emphatically, by not doing 'Heroine'. It’s no masterpiece!” wrote the reviewer for the FirstpostBollywood website.

Although the filmmaker and her heroine had used every marketing trick under the sun to plug the film as a sure-shot success, the movie has tanked at the box-office.

In fact, when the promotion drive peaked, a week before its final theatrical release, Ash packed off to Chicago to avoid the media frenzy in Mumbai.

Ash’s gang, however, had us believe that there was no truth to that and she was only visiting her husband, Abhishek Bachchan, who was filming for ‘Dhoom3’ and missing his wife and daughter.

So, while the media was busy promoting Kareena in different designer shades and pouts, Aradhaya Bachchan stole her thunder, at least for a day, by allowing the paparazzi to take a sneak peek at her cute face.

‘Heroine’ was initially offered to Kareena Kapoor, who had turned it down then due to “date issues”.

It then went to Ash, who used her Cannes clout to launch the movie on French shores.

Within weeks of filming, reports of her pregnancy were confirmed.

This left Madhur deeply shocked. He was worried that he would not finish the film before her maternity leave kicked in and was unwilling to shelve the movie till post-baby.

Later he blogged; “The truth was hidden from us. We learnt about the entire thing from news channels like the rest of the world that the said actress was 4-month pregnant…  I was in a state of total shock and depression.”

Production house UTV later stepped in and issued a statement that read: “At this point, nothing is more important to us than Aishwarya’s well being and good health.

"We have all agreed that the best step would be to avoid shooting further, rather than proceeding with an incredibly demanding schedule over the coming months”.

Madhur, however, sulked and went into hiding, while Ash “walked out of the project”.

Ash’s spokesperson shot back with: “We would like everyone to know that this is far from the truth. She was removed due to an implied prejudice after learning about her pregnancy”.

“We would like to request the media not to drag Aishwarya’s name regarding ‘Heroine’ as it is a closed chapter for her.”

After weeks of further deliberation, UTV decided to make Madhur’s dream project and started scouting for another lady. Initial reports suggested Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone.

But, considering there was enough bad blood over ‘Heroine’, no actress in her right mind, would’ve dared to irk the Bachchan family and step into Ash’s shoes.

Then there was Kareena, who defiantly walked back in, proudly claiming that it was destiny that led her to Madhur’s movie.

Wonder, if she’ll now blame destiny and not her lack of creative insight for signing such a film.

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