Kareena Kapoor back in Heroine, but conditions apply

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's 'good news' had poured cold water on Madhur Bhandarkar and UTV's dreams of making Heroine. However, like every dark cloud, this too has a silver lining. Kareena Kapoor has finally agreed to step into the shoes left empty by Mrs Jr Bachchan.

On Monday, UTV's CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur and the writer of Heroine Niranjan Iyengar flew down to Hyderabad to meet Kareena who had been spending some time with her boyfriend Saif Ali Khan, who in turn has been shooting for Cocktail with Deepika Padukone at the Ramoji Rao Film City there.

The meeting between the producer, the writer and the actress proved to be quite fruitful. So much so that the actress has now agreed to be a part of the project, with a few conditions of her own.

"Kareena has consented to the snorting, drinking and smoking scenes. Earlier, she had strong reservations against them. Now, she just doesn't want to do the explicit lovemaking scenes with Arjun Rampal and Sudhir Mishra's discovery Arunoday Singh. Those scenes are extremely sexy and Kareena is just not comfortable doing them," informed a source.

And while UTV doesn't want to let go of this opportunity to revive their dream project with Kareena Kapoor, convincing the director Madhur to make changes in his script yet again, proves to be a challenge.

While Madhur Bhandarkar remained unavailable for comments, a source close to the film informed Mumbai Mirror, "Iyengar is very close to Kareena. He knew that this time he would be able to convince her. Both Kapur and Iyengar were very happy after the meeting. They were beaming. Madhur too was happy to learn that Kareena has agreed to do the film."

Kareena, interestingly, happened to be Madhur's choice for the film previously. However, the actress had refused to do it since she felt that the content of the film was too heavy and bold for her. "What can be better than getting your first choice back in the project?" quipped the source when asked about the same.

Having found his silver lining in Hyderabad, UTV's head honcho Siddharth Roy Kapur stayed on in the city to multiply his happiness. This time with a different leading lady who also happens to be the lady leading his heart.

He extended his visit to be with his ladylove Vidya Balan who is shooting for Ekta Kapoor's Dirty Picture with co-star Emraan Hashmi and director Milan Luthria at the Ramoji Rao Film City in Hyderabad. So after a successful meeting, Kapur dropped by to meet Vidya on the sets of the film based on the life of Silk Smitha.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had left the project after a week's shoot following her father in law's tweet about her pregnancy on June 21. According to industry insiders, it isn't commercially viable for the makers of the film to wait for more than a year for Ash to come back to the project.

Kapur and Bhandarkar remained unavailable for comment. Ditto for Kareena.

Pregnant Aishwarya's day out

The actress's first public appearance after the news about her pregnancy was revealed... Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's much awaited public appearance may happen this Thursday as she is slated to attend the French National Day celebrations in Mumbai. From the time father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan announced that his bahu is pregnant, Ash has been maintaining a low profile and she hasn't been seen in public except while exiting a multiplex in Juhu last week. The National Day of France also known as Bastille Day is celebrated every year on July 14. The French Embassy this year is hosting an event at a South Mumbai hotel and according to sources the Bachchan bahu is definitely going to attend it. The actress's presence at the evening is ensured by the fact that an international French brand she has been an ambassador for over a decade now, is part of the evening's sponsor list. As part of the celebrations, designers Rahul Mishra, Nachiket Barve and Narendra Kumar are designing costumes inspired by the French flag. Nachiket Barve for whom Aishwarya has been a muse, is making a garment embodying the spirit of France using its national colours of red, white and blue. So is he also creating something special for Ash for that day? Nachiket says, "She has sported my garments in the past and it's always a pleasure to dress her up. Her presence in itself is great attraction to the evening."

Pregnant Pause

It isn’t often that an actress takes a gamble like announcing that she’s expecting a child when she’s riding high on her career. The news of Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan’s pregnancy, which was announced by her delighted father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan on June 21, came hot on the heels of the publicity being generated by her next big film project, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine. The project, which had long been in the news for lack of a lead actress — a lot of names were thrown around including Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra — seemed to have finally got underway, when it was announced officially at Cannes in May. But that was only till the news of Rai-Bachchan’s pregnancy came in. 

In their official press statement, the film’s producers UTV Motion Pictures, declared that nothing is more important than the actress’s well-being. “In that context, we have all mutually agreed that the best step would be to avoid shooting further, rather than proceeding with an incredibly demanding schedule over the coming months. Even as we will truly miss this opportunity to work with Aishwarya, the entire unit wishes her the very best for the exciting time ahead, as she and Abhishek move into this special new phase in their lives.” Director Madhur Bhandarkar’s office repeated the same. However, the fate of the film, and Rai-Bachchan’s role in it, remains ambiguous.