The source says Ash, who was accompanying her hubby, made sure she was on the sets most of the time. “She wasn’t there every single minute. But yeah it would be fair to say that she was there a lot.”

Rani, who is known for her political correctness in the industry, refused to rise to Ash’s bait. “She was so professional. She knew what was happening. But she didn’t let anyone know that she was being bothered. Rani made it a point to be exactly how she was before the wedding with Abhishek,” says our source. Even before Ash’s arrival it is believed that things weren’t easy for Rani as the other two leads of the movie - Jaya Bachchan and Konkona Sen Sharma – hit it off very well and were seen spending time with each other which made Rani feel left out.

Mean while the gorgeous beauty of bollywood to make the hubby dear happy has decided to quit Karan Johar’s upcoming project as she thinks that the character is too sexy for her to play it comfortably on the screen. Ash is of the view that after marriage in Bachchan family such sexy characters will tarnish her image and hence she won’t like to do them now onwards. Meanwhile, Priyanka Chopra has been selected to play the sexy character in this Tarun Mansukhani directed film.

As Karan Johar says, ‘ Ash had heard the screenplay and agreed to do the film. But after she got a detailed narration, she changed her mind. She explained her point of view to me and I respect her decision. We then spoke to Priyanka. She was happy to be part of the film and we are happy to have her, so it worked well. When you see the film, you will understand why Ash could not do it.’
In fact, Aishwarya was supposed to play a very sexy character in the film, which has Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham in the lead. The script required that both men chase her lustily in the film. But Ash did not want to project an image of a woman torn between two men, especially when she is happily married in the Bachchan household.

Aishwarya Rai sensitivity towards not playing any sexy character even on screen can be better understood in the context of Dhoom -2. It may be recalled that in Dhoom 2, Ash had a kissing scene with Hrithik Roshan, which had not gone very well with the Bachchans, especially with Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek’s mother. And remember at that time, Ash was not even married to Abhishek. Jaya Bachchan had told her clearly that there was no need for her to do such a role when talks about marriage were going on.

After seeing the Kissing scene, Abhishek too was not very happy with his beau. After all this, Ash does not want to repeat the mistake in any way even remotely.

However, another theory doing the rounds in the industry is that Aishwarya’s refusal to work with Karan Johar was a new chapter in the on- going feeling of insecurity she feels towards Rani and Karan Johar’s tilt towards Rani is all too visible and hence retaliation from Mrs Bachchan.

With both Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Jodhaa Akbar scheduled for release on October 12, looks like the tension between the two heroines will move from the sets to the box office as well!