Ash skips date with Dubya

Ash skips date with Dubya

Flies off to Rio to shoot for Dhoom 2, minutes before the Ministry call

Ram Kamal Mukherjee

The winner takes it all. After Will Smith offered her a lead role in his next venture, now it's American President George Bush who wants to meet Aishwarya Rai.

Considering Ash's growing popularity in Hollywood, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Ash for the prestigious power lunch with the US President at the Taj Palace in New Delhi today. Following the lunch invite came a dinner invitation from President Abdul Kalam too.

Unfortunately the actress will miss meeting Bush because she is away shooting for Sanjay Gadhvi's film Dhoom 2 in Rio, Brazil. "Ash left for the shooting of Dhoom 2 with Hrithik Roshan on Monday at 1.40 p.m.," says Ash's business manager Hari Singh. "I got a call from Deepak Kumar, protocol officer, Ministry of External Affairs at 2.20 p.m. They invited Ash for the lunch which our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hosting at the Taj in honor of US President. I couldn't even inform Ash that she has been invited because she will only be able to access her cellphone after 12 hours. The time difference has to be taken into account too."

Ash was, of course, uncontactable. The actress will be in Brazil for a month, shooting with Hrithik Roshan. Her co-actor Abhishek Bachchan will join the unit after about a week. "Gadhvi wanted to shoot the carnival in Rio," adds Singh. "They are shooting in a virgin location which has not been used by any film-maker so far."