Aishwarya Rai Bachchan slams reports saying she turned down Sanjay Leela Bhansali for husband Abhishek Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has slammed reports that she had turned down a starring role in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. In a statement released to the press, she called the reports ‘totally baseless and untrue’.

The original report by Deccan Chronicle quoted a source as saying, “Aishwarya had to choose between working with Bhansali and sharing screen space with her husband, as the dates for both films were clashing. And she chose the film with her husband.” The report said that Aishwarya had chosen to star opposite husband Abhishek Bachchan in Gulab Jamun over the Bhansali film.

According to Aishwarya’s representatives, “This is totally baseless and untrue. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has immense love for Sanjay Leela Bhansali and will always be very keen to work with him and he knows that.”

Abhishek had spoken to Deccan Chronicle about reuniting with his wife after an eight year gap. “Gulab Jamun is a sweet film and it’s always a pleasure to work with the missus. Every time we’ve done a film together, it’s been special,” he said. The last time the couple worked together was in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan.

Aishwarya told Mid-Day that they’d wanted to work together for years, but Abhishek had wanted to take a break from acting. His upcoming film, Manmarziyaan, is his first in two years. Gulab Jamun is produced by his Manmarziyaan director Anurag Kashyap. “We had agreed on the idea then,” Aishwarya had said. “However, it was around the same time that AB decided to take time-out. After the hiatus, he returned with Manmarziyaan, which coincidentally is directed by Anurag Kashyap. That’s when the chatter around Gulab Jamun began again, and we finally came on board. It is a beautiful script, and we fit the narrative perfectly.”

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First Published: Aug 30, 2018 20:03 IST