Mumbai, September 02:Aishwarya Rai has finally given the nod to veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal. The film to be shotnext year would be an out-and-out female-oriented subject to be shot atone stretch. Says Aishwarya, “I’ve been working so hardthis year thatI haven’t had achance to look at scripts. Butyes, the one that Shyam Benegal hasgiven meisveryvery special. We’ve beenmeaning to work with one another for years.”
Aishwarya wasearlieroffered Benegal’s Chamki,his screenadaptation of Georges Bizet’s classic French operaCarmen. Laughs Aishwarya, “I don’t know how many times that has come to me. He needed to catch the moodduring winter in Rajasthan. And somehow I never had that window inmy schedule.”The new Aishwarya-Benegal project takes the actor intoa different time zone.
ExplainsAishwarya, “We metin Hyderabad last year when I was shooting there and he was shooting Well Done, Abba. I hope to beable tosit down with him soon towork out the details.”
Not willing todivulge any more details at the momenton the Benegalproject, all Aishwarya will say is, “It’s contemporary. But setina differentframe oftime. But it isn’ta periodfilm.”
And yes, Aishwaryawill finally beworking with Raj Kumar Santoshi again. Says the actor, “I think Rajji has beenoffering mea film almost every year. Only oncewhen I had twenty days in my schedulewas I able to work with him in Khakee. Nowwe’ll do something else.”
Meanwhile Aishwarya has a very busyyear ahead. After Raavan in two versions,Hindi and Tamil, she has Endhiran in Tamil,Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish andVipul Shah’s Action Replay coming upby the end of the year.