Aishwarya out of The Rising : HindustanTimes.com

Aishwarya Rai...Out of The The Rising?

According to this story in the Hindustan Times Bollywood bombshell Aishwarya Rai has bowed out of the colonial-era epic, The Rising, which gained some international publicity this month when Prince Charles set the camera rolling, during his recent visit to India. Rai has been replaced by Amisha Patel, who will play the female lead opposite Aamir Khan for the film about the 1857 uprising against British rule in India, producer Bobby Bedi said.

"She (Rai) wanted to renegotiate the contract with us after signing the deal. This was not acceptable and therefore we broke the deal on Thursday," Bedi said. Shooting will go ahead on January 6 near Pune, he added. Bedi said he did not expect Rai's departure to affect the fortunes of the film, noting that his 1994 Bandit Queen about Phoolan Devi was successful without well-known actors. "I don't think the movie will be affected as Aamir will be there," Bedi said. "A film is bigger than individuals working in the film and stars are not a very important aspect of film making," he added.

I am really disappointed, one because it seems as if Aishwarya was trying to renegotiate an already done deal, and secondly because I don't think Amisha Patel is as good of a acress, nor as appealing to the eye, as Ash. I agree with Bedi though, Amir Khan is as much of a draw, if not more than Aishwarya Rai.

posted by sajit @ 10:30 AM