Dubai: There was no shortage of Bollywood glamour in Gulf News office premises on Wednesday as icons Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan played guest-editors and put together their dream tabloid! edition.
In pictures: Aishwarya & Hrithik bring glamour to Gulf News
Striding into our office with a string of bouncers, the strikingly handsome duo also spoke at length about Guzaarish, their latest drama about a magician who becomes a quadriplegic and patiently answered our reader’s queries.
As far as on-screen chemistry goes, there is no beating Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan.
Aishwarya jumped to the defence of acclaimed director Sanjay Leela Bhansali after their upcoming film Guzaarish was hit a copyright infringement row.
Aishwarya's top five moments
Hrithik Roshan: well worth the wait
“I will need to sit down and find out all the facts before commenting on it. But very often, there are many PILs {Public Interest Litigation] lodged which are not necessarily valid,” said Rai Bachchan during her visit to the Gulf News office to guest edit tabloid!
accompanied by her co-star, Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan.
“I remember during Dhoom 2 there was a similar thing and Yashji [its producer] was like ‘please don’t react to it…At no point did Hrithik and I hear about such an insinuation about a reference to a book during its creative making,” she added.
The row began when Indian novelist Dayanand Raajan claimed that the plot of Guzaarish – a love story between a quadriplegic and his nurse – was copied from his unpublished novel Summer Snow.
The 37-year-old icon, who is married to Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, added that personal experience has taught her to be wary of such reports.
“After our marriage, I remember people thought I had been married to a tree. Reading those reports, people filed PILs asking how can Amitji [Amitabh Bachchan, her father-in-law] and Aishwarya perpetrate such superstitions? That was just false reporting because such a thing never happened. Here too, I am sure Sanjay and the UTV team will work on how to clarify things,” said Rai Bachchan.
Her faith in this filmmaker – who has given her some of her biggest hits in her career such as Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam – was highlighted when she confessed that she had accepted the role in Guzaarish without even hearing the script.
“After Hum Dil [De Chuke Sanam] and Devdas, Sanjay said he will only approach me if he had a project that will give him the opportunity to show a different Aishwarya. And when he said he has a script, I just said yes even before hearing it.”
Guzaarish also puts Rai Bachchan back in her flop-proof duo with Roshan. Their previous two outings, Dhoom 2 and Jodhaa Akbar, both struck box-office gold.
For Roshan’s part, working with Rai Bachchan was the obvious choice - even if it meant risking being the third wheel in her pairing with director Bansali.
“I thought I might feel like that because they have an ongoing equation, so I worried where I might fit in. But Mr. Bansali’s such a lovely man, so full of love, that he took very good care of me. Never did I feel that I’m new in this equation. I fit right in. Of course Ash and I have a very good equation, she’s a great support.”
Guzaarish releases in the UAE on November 16.
