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.