Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic roles in films like Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and Khakee, once revealed a surprising twist in her career involving two of Bollywood’s biggest Khans. Before her celebrated on-screen chemistry with Shah Rukh Khan in movies like Mohabbatein, Devdas, and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Aishwarya was nearly cast as Salman Khan’s sister in the 2000 film Josh.
Directed by Mansoor Khan, Josh eventually featured Aishwarya alongside Chandrachur Singh, with Shah Rukh Khan playing her brother. However, the initial plan was to cast Salman and Aamir Khan in the lead roles. Aishwarya shared in an old interview with Bollywood Hungama, “I think the cast was meant to be Aamir (Khan) and Salman at one point, and eventually, it became Shah Rukh and I think Aamir (Khan) was to play Chandrachur (Singh)’s role. So the cast kept changing at different points in time, but Sherly remained Sherly. So I had said yes to Mansoor (Khan).”
Years later, the possibility of Aishwarya and Salman reuniting on-screen resurfaced with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious project, Bajirao Mastani. The director envisioned Salman as Bajirao and Aishwarya as Mastani. However, circumstances prevented the reunion.
On Koffee With Karan, Aishwarya clarified, “He (Sanjay) did see us working as the cast that he saw was ideal for the film. But circumstantially, I could not work with the kind of team he was looking at.” While she was willing to play Mastani, she couldn’t see herself working with Salman as Bajirao.
Despite rumors that she walked out of the project, Aishwarya explained, “Well, I was game to play Mastani but not with the Bajirao he had in mind. So, this was evident probably nationally. The media made it out to be that Aishwarya walks out of Bajirao Mastani. We hadn’t communicated then because I was in hospital with my leg laid up.” For context, Aishwarya had suffered a leg injury during the shooting of the 2004 film Khakee, which left her hospitalized.
