Could his lovely wife be inadvertently sabotaging Abhishek Bachchan’s career?

If rumours drifting in from Bollywood are to be believed, the actress has a say in which films the younger Bachchan star works on and actively vetoes anything she feels uncomfortable about.

Caught in Rai’s crosshairs is actress Katrina Kaif, who is the focus of much speculation after pulling out of a remake of the Hollywood classic “The Italian Job”. Directed by the brothers Abbas and Mustan Burmawalla, the film is reportedly a no-expense-spared affair that stars Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Omi Vaidya.

After accepting the a starring role, Kaif walked out recently, citing date problems – weeks before filming was set to begin. Insiders say Kaif, 26, felt there’d be little scope for her talents in a film starring Bachchan, who would likely dominate the action. However, she could simply have been guarding her reputation: Bachchan hasn’t had a string of flops at the box-office recently and she may not want to be associated with a flop.

Several other top actresses, including Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, reportedly walked out of the film earlier. Also among those considered was Rai, with whom negotiations reportedly did not work out.

The refusal seems to have angered Rai, who reportedly now wants Bachchan to step away from “Dostana 2”, a sequel to the 2008 hit that Bachchan has been hoping will help his career.

“Ash is known to use her influence in deciding her husband's projects. She has been telling her friends about how Katrina Kaif dumped the Abbas-Mustan film because there was not much for her to do in a film starring Abhishek. Now, she wants Abhishek to avoid ‘Dostana 2’,” India Today magazine quoted a source close to the star as saying.

It also quoted an unnamed director friend of the Bachchans: “Abhishek values his wife's judgment a lot and will always take what she says seriously. If she is trying to influence him against working with Katrina, he might just end up taking it seriously. These things keep happening in the industry.”

Bachchan himself told Rediff.com earlier this year: “[Aishwarya] has a different point of view and I like listening to her point of view because she makes a lot of sense.”

Actresses at war

But Bollywood watchers believe the former Miss World is threatened by Kaif, whose quick success over the past few years has directly impacted Rai’s own box-office status. Rai, who turns 37 this year, has a few plum projects ahead of her, she realises the offers will soon dry up.

"Katrina has been preparing for this role for a long time. If Abhishek were to drop the film at this stage, it would mean rescheduling the shooting again," the magazine’s source said of “Dostana 2”. The project has already been delayed and filming will now only begin next year, following reported creative differences between producer Karan Johar and director Tarun Mansukhani.

This isn’t the first time Rai and Kaif, both once in a relationship with Salman Khan, have been at loggerheads. The younger actress beat the older one to win a lucrative endorsement for Mattel’s Barbie dolls, about which Rai later said: “I was asked initially. But I refused and then it went to someone else.” The fact that Aishwarya didn’t even use Katrina’s name and said ‘someone else’ speaks volumes that things aren’t at all friendly between the two.

Besides Dostana 2, Bachchan only has three films in hand at this point: Ashutosh Gowarikar’s “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey”, about a 1930 armoury raid in British India, the Farhan Akhtar-produced action thriller “Game” – both set for release this December – and Rohan Sippy’s “Dum Maro Dum”, set for a 2011 release. Rai was also associated with “Game”, also an action thriller, but scheduling conflicts prevented her from signing on.

Bachchan’s co-stars on these projects include Kangna Ranaut on “Game”, Deepika  Padukone on “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey” and Bipasha Basu in “Dum Maro Dum”. With none of these actresses as successful as Kaif, Rai has reportedly had no objections to her husband’s working with them.

Bachchan already has problems being seen as a commercial, bankable actor. On projects where he is the only lead actor, he has proved unable to fill cinemas or generate the sort of initial business a Shah Rukh Khan might guarantee.

His last hit, 2009’s “Paa”, drew audiences because his legendary father Amitabh, now 67, played a 12-year-old boy with progeria, a rare genetic condition where resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. The success of the hit before that, 2008’s play gay film “Dostana”, was largely attributed to a strip scene by John Abraham.

An Abhishek-Katrina pairing could electrify the box office, but if Rai’s reported determination to run Bachchan’s career threatens “Dostana 2”, the hassles generated by her meddling might well see a reduction in the number of projects coming her husband’s way.