From the sets of Umrao Jaan in Jaipur to Mumbai, everyone is talking about Bollywood's latest romance — Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.
Began as friends
Ash and Abhishek's friendship began on the sets of their film together — Kuch Na Kaho.
Even during her Viveik phase, Ash kept in touch with Abhishek. The actress used to SMS him frequently. When the Oberoi love story ended, this friendship got a new start.
Dil cheez kya hai…
They spent a lot of time away from home at the sets of Umrao Jaan and discovered that they had deeper feelings for each other. The film's unit returned from Jaipur to Mumbai full of Ash-Abhishek kissas.
Since Ash and Abhishek have been shooting for J P Dutta's Umrao Jaan in Jaipur, Rajashthan for more than a month we decided to ask Dutta's wife Bindiya (who is designing the costumes) who is in town for a day.
Are Ash and Abhishek dating each other? There is a moment of stunned silence and then Bindiya laughs, "I am not in a position to comment about it." She adds diplomatically, "I have been too busy with the shooting to notice anything much."
Dining with the Bachchans
The first sign that Abhishek was serious was when he invited his new good friend to the Bachchan residence for dinner. A family friend of the Bachchans confirms, "The whole Rani-Abhishek thing is untrue.
He is only interested in her as a friend. Abhishek will marry a girl that his parents approve of, and Jaya aunty doesn't believe Rani is right for him. She has voiced her opinion to Abhishek. In fact AB, in a way, likes to add fuel to this Rani link-up so that the Ash angle can be put under cover.
Mommy Brigade
Aishwarya Rai with Amitabh Bachchan
Ash's mom and Jaya aunty have met and discussed a possibility of turning Ash-AB relation into something more concrete. In fact Jaya aunty has already approved Ash and keeps pleading her case to AB.
There are people on both sides who definitely want this marriage to happen. We also hear that Jaya took the janam patrikas of Abhishek and Aishwarya and showed it to a family pandit.
Abhishek taking it slow
AB wants to take more time after learning from his Karisma Kapoor experience.
He wants to be totally sure than Ash is genuinely interested in him. As opposed to Ash, he hasn't been linked to many women in his career, so he wants to be ultra-careful about the whole thing.
But Abhishek has confessed his feelings for Ash to some close friends. She was a huge moral support for him in the days when Amitabh was hospitalised and they were constantly in touch on the phone.
We SMSed Aishwarya for her response but she preferred to remain silent.
by: mid-day.com
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