It's official: Aishwarya is history

Mumbai: After costume dramas like Devdas and Umrao Jaan, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai will now be seen in Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar.

She has been a part of so many films that require elaborate sets and costumes, including Rituparno Ghosh's Chokher Bali and Mani Ratnam's forthcoming Guru, which is also a period film of sorts opening as it does in the 1950s.

"I've often been told that I belong to another era. And my selection of films reflects that old-world reality," Aishwarya said.

Gowariker had been keen to work with Aishwarya for a long time. One suspects a part of the charm of recreating the Mughal era was to see the former beauty queen in the Madhubala mould in K Asif's Mughal-E-Azam.

But Hrithik Roshan, while speaking on the subject of Jodha-Akbar, was quick to stress the fact that this project had nothing to do with Mughal-E-Azam.

"It goes into another period of emperor Akbar and his Rajput wife's life. For me, the challenge of doing my first costume drama is to look convincing in the old-world costumes. I'm really looking forward to my first period film, though a bit afraid of the unknown," said Hrithik.

Interestingly, Hrithik was supposed to do Gowariker's previous film.

"I had read Ashutosh's script for Swades. I couldn't see it from the director's perspective, and therefore didn't think I was equipped to perform the part. I wasn't the best person to translate Ashutosh's vision. And this was right after Lagaan!" he said.

"But Shah Rukh was superb. Ashutosh coming to me made me feel on top of the world. 'Swades' is one of my favourite films. And Ashutosh is definitely one of my favourite filmmakers, more so after Swades than Lagaan. This director's vision is unimaginable. It's such a challenge to satisfy Ashutosh. I hope I live up to his expectations," said Hrithik.

Hrithik saw Jodha-Akbar like no other costume drama: "I suspect Ashutosh will see the theme in a different light. I don't think my Akbar will be like anything you've seen. You know it always helps to have a director who knows more than you. The minute you feel you know more about the script than the director, the project is cooked."

There's also the challenge for Gowariker to make his amazingly good-looking pair look Mughal-bound after they slip into futuristic gear and groove in Dhoom 2.

This shouldn't be much of a challenge, not after Sanjay Leela Bhansali could cast Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya as Devdas and Paro after they played siblings in present-day Goa in Mansoor Khan's Josh.

Gowariker entered with complete confidence into a huge historical epic. "You could say I've taken a historical decision to make a film called Jodha-Akbar. It'll be a romantic musical," said Gowariker.

Is the decision to film the love story of the Mughal emperor Akbar and the Rajput princess Jodhabhai at all prompted by the surprise success of K Asif's Mughal-E-Azam when it was re-released two years ago in colour?

"Not at all," said Gowariker. "Jodha-Akbar is one of the two-three scripts that I had in mind for quite a while. I, finally, zeroed in on this. It won't go into the older days of the pair. It would show them in the prime of their togetherness and probably end where Mughal-e-Azam begins."

The film would appear somewhat volatile for its Hindu-Muslim cross-religious relationship. But Gowariker hasn't really thought of that.

"I just want to dwell on a little-known facet of Indian history that hasn't been exposed in history books, let alone on screen. I appointed a research team of historians and scholars from Delhi, Lucknow, Agra and Jaipur to guide me," Gowarikar said.

The director is going into a period film for the second time after Lagaan. "But Jodha-Akbar would be a full-on period film without props. It would be expensive. But I'm not getting into highlighting the budget and making that a USP of my project. For me, the product will justify the expenses. I won't approach the subject to splurge on lavish sets, etc," Gowariker asserted.