'Bajirao Mastani': Aishwarya Rai 'talks' Salman Khan

Aishwarya Rai, in the midst of promoting her film ‘Jazbaa’ came clear on why she is not in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s latest flick, ‘Bajirao Mastani’.

Ash was upfront about an answer this time around.

In 1999, when Sanjay Bhansali was making ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, he wanted to follow it up with ‘Devdas’ and ‘Bajirao Mastani’. By then, relations between Aishwarya and Salman had gone sour.

Ash didn’t want to work with Salman again and Bhansali replaced Ash with Kareena only to see that Priyadarshan used Bebo and Salman in ‘KyonKi’. He then dropped the cast.

Now with Ash returning to acting after half a decade, she was faced with a question which she did not avoid.

“Well, as you are all aware, I would have become Mastani according to Bhansali’s wishes, but then, it would have happened only if a certain actor (referring to Salman) would have become Bajirao,” says Aishwarya.

The actress behaved like the quintessential heroine in a Bollywood movie climax. She did refer to Salman, but steered away clearly from taking his name.

“So Sanjay and I spoke clearly about it. It was not an issue about which we should have been stressed out. Every film has its destiny and it reaches where it has to,” says Aishwarya.

Having said that, Aishwarya spoke highly about her equation with her ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Devdas’ director.

“Sanjay and I share a close bond. Sometime ago I did poke him once about making ‘Bajirao Mastani’. There are some filmmakers with whom I share a close bond and that is beyond just cinema,” says the actress.
 

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