The stunning and charismatic Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has had an illustrious Bollywood career with films like Devdas, Jodhaa Akbar and more.
But the Diva has also rejected some iconic movie roles and lost some to others. Here’s a list of 10 blockbusters that were initially offered to Ash!
1) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Did you know Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was offered the role of Tina Malhotra (who was ultimately played by Rani Mukherjee) in Karan Johar’s ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’?
In a Filmfare interview, the light-eyed beauty revealed the reason for turning down the iconic role – the age old date issue!
“Karan Johar did approach me, but the dates he needed were committed to the RK film. Moreover, Kuch Kuch… belonged to Kajol. No two ways about that. Having said that, let me add that Rani Mukherjee did a terrific job.
I’m in a Catch-22 situation really. Though I’m a newcomer, I’m compared with all the senior actresses. So if I’d done Kuch Kuch…, it would have been tittered that, “Look, Aishwarya Rai is back to doing what she did in her modelling days – leaving her hair straight, wearing minis, and pouting glamorously into the camera.“
2) Veer-Zaara
The Preity Zinta-Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Veer Zaara’ was a classic hit, backed by a timeless soundtrack and beautifully tragic love story. Who can forget the eternal, blushing beauty of Preity?
This turned out to be one of the costliest misses of Aish’s career; Veer Zaara went on to win a National Award for the Most Popular Film, besides the Filmfare Award for the Best Film. Rai was supposed to play the role of Shah Rukh Khan’s lawyer Saamiya Siddiqui, which ended up going to Rani Mukherjee later.
