Heroine film woes / UTV:Ash out of Heroine Page 6

After Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's 'good news', everything was going right for the Bachchans, till Madhur Bhandarkar and UTV's Siddharth Roy Kapoor chose to play villains by allegedly making some bizarre demands from leading lady Ash.

Much to the horror of the Bachchans, Bhandarkar has suddenly decided that his film needs two item songs. Naturally, given that Ash is pregnant, this is a difficult feat.

Only weeks after going on floors, Aishwarya announced her pregnancy. The filmmakers, though happy for Ash, couldn't help but get troubled over their film. Amidst media speculations about the much talked about film being shelved, the filmmakers held hurried meetings to decide the fate of the film. The outcome of the meetings did not go down too well with the Bachchans.

A source close to Ash revealed, "Aishwarya had made it clear that she would complete Heroine by the end of July. Now Madhur is saying it isn't possible to complete the film within the stipulated time. Is it her fault if they're suddenly unsure of finishing their film?" In fact, the two new conditions were apparently put forward at two separate meetings that Siddharth Roy Kapoor of UTV and Bhandarkar had with Aishwarya at the Bachchans' office in Jalsa last week. On both occasions, Aishwarya was surprised, if not shocked, by the demands made.

The source adds, "Suddenly there was talk of two item songs. Madhur wanted to know how she would perform these songs. Aishwarya had no knowledge of these item songs at all. There was no mention of them anywhere in the script."

Stories of Aishwarya refusing to smoke on the sets of Heroine and shoot a waterfall sequence, have managed to anger the Bachchans too. "She has never done a bathing-under-the-waterfall sequence in her entire career. Why would she do it now? No, there was never any waterfall sequence to begin with.

As for the smoking sequence, yes, there were scenes where her character was supposed to smoke. But after the controversies that had cropped up during her smoking sequence in Guzaarish, Aishwarya clearly told UTV and Madhur Bhandarkar that she would not do any smoking scenes. So where did these stories suddenly crop up from?"

Clearly, the Bachchans, especially Aishwarya, are miffed with these sudden last-minute changes that have been made to the script. Earlier this week, the shooting for Heroine was cancelled because an actor required to play a film director didn't turn up for the shoot. Aishwarya's date went to waste. The source said, "If Aishwarya wanted, she could've just shot for the film quietly without announcing the pregnancy. But after hearing of the pregnancy, Madhur Bhandarkar came up with these strange new demands - like two item songs. Understandably, she is not going to give in at this stage when motherhood is far more important to her than any role."

Though Madhur Bhandarkar was unavailable for comment, a source close to him defended the filmmaker, saying, "Aishwarya plays a Bollywood star in the film. How could there be no singing and dancing? In fact, now because of her pregnancy, all these sequences have to be toned down. The filmmakers will never take a risk with her in such a delicate condition."

According to the source, the filmmaker is miffed with the actress since she didn't confide in him earlier. "Madhur had noticed that Ash was gaining weight. He obviously didn't associate with motherhood. If she had only told him earlier, Madhur would've worked his way around the problem. Now UTV and Madhur stand to lose around Rs 6 crore if the film is shelved."

Meanwhile.. .

Ram Gopal Varma hinted that having a no-pregnancy clause for heroines in Bollywood would help avoid these kinds of eventualities. Said Ramu nonchalantly, "I can't comment on what other filmmakers should do to tackle such an eventuality. But it's the done-thing in Hollywood to have a no-pregnancy contract."

Looks like after Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's pregnancy affecting Bhandarkar Entertainment and UTV, the film industry is abuzz with discussions of including such a clause in film contracts. A filmmaker on condition of anonymity said, "I was about to sign an actress but then I heard she was planning to marry. I quickly signed someone else. Films should be insured against any eventuality surrounding an actress' personal life."

Years ago, Manmohan Desai on learning that his female lead in Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Jaya Prada had married Srikant Nahata, had exclaimed, "Why did she have to get married? Now she'll get pregnant. I should have a no-pregnancy clause for my heroines." Perhaps Manmohan Desai's wish is now going to come true.