Vidya Balan laps up film rejected by Aishwarya Rai

Rajiv Menon has already worked with Aishwarya Rai in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, and he felt that Ash suited the role of MS Subbulakshmi, so he approached her with the subject, but to his utter shock the actress wasn't interested.

Now, the question is, what made Aishwarya Rai, who is quite eager to make a comeback, say no to Rajeev Menon's film. Reports claim that Ash wasn't too keen to be part of the biopic on the first musician awarded with the Bharat Ratna because she felt that the movie is more of an art film and it did not have the elements of a mainstream Bollywood movie.

Then Menon approached the talented Vidya Balan, who like Aishwarya is a South Indian girl with a good understanding of Carnatic classical music and a knack to take on challenging roles.

No surprise then that Vidya Balan is excited for the film and has even given priority dates to Menon. It's heard that Vidya's parents, who are from Palakkad, are also happy with her decision, and are looking forward to the film.

Aishwarya Rai's loss seems to be Vidya Balan's gain!