Now of course, the tables have turned and Ash, who is clearly in a far better bargaining position, has found herself back in the seat and with the man of her choice.

"Aishwarya was always Bhansali's first choice for the courtesan's role and he had dreamt of making the film with Salman opposite her playing the 18th century Peshwa king and Rani Mukheree his wife, Kashibai," a source close to Bhansali informs, “Both Salman - Ash were a pair off screen then. But following their break up, the bearded director decided to maintain close pal Salman and started looking around for Mastani's part. Name of top model, Shivani Kapoor too was discussed then. He then settled upon on Kareena Kapoor and even gave interviews about his choice claiming she possessed the pathos of Meena Kumari and the fire of Nargis and that she had a completely different aura of attitude, personality, beauty and femininity. But after everything was confirmed he decided to postpone the project and make Devdas with Shah Rukh Khan instead. Post Devdas, when everyone was expecting the pending project to take off, Bhansali surprised everyone again by announcing his songless Black with Big B and Rani Mukherjee, keeping his historical aside, yet again." the source says.

Both Abhi and Ash are riding high on success at the moment and brand Bachchan is the biggest brand in the country worth crores.

Recently Rakeysh Om prakash Mehra prepares to start two projects with Bachchan’s his next project, the autobiographical Delhi 6,with Abhi and Bhairavi where he intends to bring Amitabh, Jaya and Abhishek together in their real-life roles of husband, wife and son. The movie will be set in the world of classical Indian music and will be based on the theme of strife amidst competitive creativity.

"Ideally, I'd have liked to make it immediately after Aks. But a combination of forces came in the way. I'm ready to do the film as soon as the dates are worked out. One thing is for sure. Bhairavi has to be made with Amitji, Abhishek and Jaya," he added.

But Jaya is known to be extremely finicky about projects. She isn't too sold on the idea of coming together with her husband and son on screen. Will she agree?

"It's a project that has been with me for a while. I have already narrated it to Amitji and Abhishek and they're on." "She has to! I'll go on a hunger strike in front of her house until she agrees. Bhairavi must be made, preferably this year," said Mehra.

Incidentally, Bhairavi is the name of Mehra's daughter. While he waits for his dream project to materialise, Mehra will start his film Dilli 6 with Abhishek and Sonam as lead pair.

For the moment it seems Bhansali and many others prefer the Bachchan camp lets see who will win this battle between Bhansali and Shah Rukh but this time Bhansali have the mighty Bachchan’s on Board.