Was approached for 'Padmaavat', 'Bajirao Mastani' before Deepika: Aishwarya Rai

MUMBAI: Bollywood’s bathing beauty Aishwarya Rai, despite being married and an actress who had garnered massive success in the 90s, revealed recently that she was the first choice of makers of blockbuster films ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and ‘Padmaavat’.

However, she believes she has  been replaced by Deepika Padukone.

Ash shared that she had worked closely with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the past, in films like ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Devdas’ which is why he approached Aishwarya for ‘Padmaavat’ and ‘Bajirao Mastani’ too, but she had denied.

Sanjay then decided to cast Deepika in these films that later went on to do great business at the box office. After these films were released, a number of rumours surfaced suggesting Deepika has replaced Aishwarya Rai in the modern times.

However, Ash had earlier said in various interviews that she actually is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s favourite heroine and that he had approached Aishwarya for these films before Deepika.