From Cine Blitz, December edition....😃..
They look sinfully beautiful together. Effortlessly, they manage to create magic, unseen and unheard of. It was no surprise that Ashutosh Gowariker couldn't think of anyone else but this handsome pair to recreate one of History's most attractive and powerful couples, Jodhaa Akbar We'd all heard of how Hrithik had started preparing himself for the role even while the film was still in the scripting stages. By the time the press got a whiff of it, Hrithik knew exactly how he would fit his 6 ft frame to walk in the shoes of Akbar.Typical of him to get obsessive of his characters!
With him displaying such enthusiasm when he dived into the project, naturally it was rather implausible to hear that he spend most of his time on the sets looking weary and almost agitated. Ash too apparently kept to herself throughout the entire schedule.
Spot dadas and others, who spent their time on the sets of the film built in Karjat, say it was only after the film finally got completed that they saw that missing smile back on Roshan's face.They didn't really notice Ash, for she completely disappeared from the scene. With the film looking so spectacular and everything else seeming to fall perfectly into place, one cannot imagine what was it that caused those morose faces.....
And that's when a certain Karjat-ian source got us the news straight from the sets of the magnum opus. It seems that Aishwarya Rai, now Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and her strange behaviour was what burst the bubble of Hrithik's cinematic exuberance. Her behaviour on the sets of the films is said to have irked the hunky actor so much that he not only refused to interact with her but is still said to be harbouring hurt and contempt. While Ashutosh Gowariker is said to have tried his best to inject some enthusiasm into his actors, he only managed to get them into the mood while on camera...Off it, the lady in question would spend hours in her van while Hrithik waited, growing increasingly restless and aloof.
We further prod this alleged hostility between the co-stars on the sets in Karjat.
Going back a little in time, with their first film together Hrithik and Ash enthralled the audience as a spectacular screen couple in Dhoom 2. But none of us knew how much would change in a year. While Hrithik happily basked in the glory of being the new sex symbol, all sexed up Ash, like most Indian girls was asked to get married. The two different outcomes of the same film added to the diverse reaction of two individuals. So when they returned to do Jodhaa Akbar,Hrithik had taken it upon himself to make historical look sexy in the guise of Akbar, but beautiful Ash was finding it pretty tough, they say to be Jodhaa and Mrs. Bachchan Jr. The "be all" of her existence was her marital status. Now wherever she went, followed by a ghunghat, hr sabhyata and bhadrata, which insiders on the Jodhaa Akbar set construe as her entertaining visitors and forgetting the job at hand. One might want to take up for Ash saying tradition MUST be uphelad but being unprofessional is way too uncool especially by Bachchan standards.
"She was so busy playing Bachchan bahu to all the people who she had invited on the sets of the film " reveals our source straight from Karjat. "And oh, by the way, while we are on the topic, she did invite just way too many people on the sets that said NO VISITORS. Each time the guest would come, it would seem like she had almost forgotton that there was a set waiting and there were costars waiting and that she was there to act and entertain an audience and not houseguests."
The disinterest on the part of his costar apparently didn't go down too well with Hrithik who thinks work is bigger than him; forget relationships that bind him. He not only harboured angst but also many a time had his helpers see tremors of what was boiling within.
They say there was one occassion when the guest list had extended the lunch break by double a minute and more. We all know it takes heroines alot longer to dress up but the people on the sets insist that it was far longer than the usual or else Hrithik is not the type to complain.
It comes as a shock to hear this sort of behaviour from a lady who seems more than proud to be associated with the punctual Bachchans. There is also a "nagging" why that surfaces.Why would Ash be unprofessional on the sets of a film which is perhaps the only one of her films wherein she has a role which pushes her beyond her beauty?
And that's when a source cited that in all probability, Ash could be feeling that her role really doesn't amount to much as the hero's. Rumour has it that Jodhaa is said to have a smaller role than Akbar. But she certainly seems to be equally conspicuous as the man of the film, at least where promotions of the film are concerned!
This is nothing new, female leads do tend to have smaller roles in comparison, so why would Ash sabotage not just her costar but also the film at large for something that's a given in Hindi films?What is it that she doesn't care for anymore? Hindi films? Or is it that no costar but her hubby dearest interests our pativrata Ash anymore?
It's all over the news how Ash and Abhishek have started taking more interest in each other's films. They say Abhishek is often on her set and she, on his.In fact there have also been a couple of incidents reported as on the sets of Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag where Ash is said to have passed snide comments regarding the female lead of the film, Rani Mukherjee, which predictably didn't go down too well with the Rani. If this incident is to be taken as true, it wasn't the smartest thing to do on Ash's part given the equation Rani shares with the Chopras. Ash apparently didn't mind speaking her heart out without once considering how she might lose out on all Yashraj projects if she dared continue. Surprisingly, Jaya Bachchan, who was said to be present on the sets of the film too, didn't mind sharing a laugh. Thus making it appear as if the Bachchans are such a self-sufficient lot that they need others only to add a little humour in life. But Hrithik is not really amused with this new position as the Bachchans' court jester.
People close to him during the making of the film say he came really close to asking Ash what her motive was on the particular day of the shoot. What would have irked Hrithik so bad? It so happened that Ashutosh was filming this particular scene where though Hrithik was the one to be facing the camera, Ash was required on the sets to give him his cues. Meaning, Ash would have to mouth dialogues from behind the camera so as to help Hrithik converse at proper intervals, in accordance with what was required.
"First of all, Ash took a good hour to come out of her van, and it's not like she needed her make up or hair touched up for she was not going to be facing the cameras." informed an assistant on the set (Being constantly on the sets, this AD felt increasingly synoathetic towards HRithik and believed she had to speak up....)" When Ash did manage to come, she requested that she be allowed to bring along to the set someone who she introduced as a family member. Everyone just wanted work to start, so she was permitted to do as she wished. But then all through the time that Hrithik was mouthing his lines, she'd turn around and also acknowledge the visitor- never did she miss the cues, but she made a very fidgety sight. It was so distracting for Duggu who was facing the camera, because she would make gestures to the chaiwalla and her assistant to check if her visitor was comfortable, but Duggu carried it off nevertheless!"
It is beyond logic to understand why anyone, especially the female lead of the film, would do something so derogatory to her own film! Has Ash already moved on so far beyond into Hollywood that she doesn't care about her fate here? Whatever it is, it is about time she realises that the bird in hand is worth million in the bush.
With SRK and Salman out of her work boundaries, she might want to straighted up her act, or by the looks of it, even Hrithik wil move on to the younger beauties as effortlessly as he moves on the dance floor.Never did he make a big noise of the scene but he pretty much spelt out his feelings without ssaying a word.His interaction with the lady was strictly limited to onscreen., pointedly avoiding her when they weren't facing the camera, they say. Not even out of formality, did he evfer ask her to join him on his special helicopter which he used to combat traffic in the city while he travelled from Mumbai to Karjat. He did offer lifts to Ashutosh Gowariker and even his assistants on good days, but never Ash who is his next door neighbour in Juhu.
Here is a tip to remember, if you never wanna grow up...be an actor!
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