Is Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan advising hubby Abhishek against working with Katrina Kaif? The buzz seems to suggest as much. Rumours doing the rounds in B-town have it that Ash is discouraging Abhishek from working in Karan Johar's Dostana
2, which also stars Katrina. The reason? Katrina's walking out of Abbas-Mustan's remake of The Italian Job hasn't gone down well with the Bachchans. The Bollywood remake stars Abhishek along with Neil Nitin Mukesh and Omi Vaidya in the lead. It is believed that Katrina walked out of the project citing date problems.Rumours, however, indicate that Katrina is reluctant to sign another film opposite Abhishek besides Dostana 2 , given the actor's flop run in the box-office of late.
Several other top actresses, including Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, have reportedly walked out of the film earlier. Ash herself was considered for the role at one point but things reportedly did not work out.
A source close to Aishwarya revealed: "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."
A director friend of Abhishek revealed on the condition of anonymity: "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." Another angle being floated is that Ash looks at Katrina as a direct threat to her boxoffice status. Among all the new-age heroines, Katrina's rise has been the fastest over the past few years.
Ash, on the other hand, is on the wrong side of 35. Though she has a few plum projects lined up this year, she realises that the roles will gradually dry up.
Ever since Dostana 2 was announced the excitement has been more around the buzz that Katrina may sport a bikini in the film, rather than Abhishek and John Abraham reuniting.
"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 source revealed.
Shooting for Dostana 2 has already been shifted to early 2011 reportedly because of creative differences between producer Johar and director Tarun Mansukhani.
Meanwhile, the remake of The Italian Job has run into trouble because the directors have not been able to zero in on the female lead yet.
Despite the good rapport Abbas-Mustan has shared with Katrina ever since she worked in Race, the duo could not convince the star to sign on the dotted line.
Abbas of the Abbas-Mustan duo told us: "Why is there so much noise about Katrina leaving our film? She left because of date problems and she is no longer associated with the film." He added: "We are still looking for the female lead and are considering other heroines. It will take us some time to finalise a name."
Source: (wateen.net)