Aishwarya Rai

They’ve never been paired before. “But if you close your eyes you can see how good John Abraham and Aishwarya Rai look together,” says producer Gaurang Doshi who’s all set to bring together the golden couple in his new magical mystical romantic musical Happy Birthday.

To be directed by Sriram Raghavan who earlier did Ram Gopal Varma’s Saif-Urmila starrer Ek Hasina Thi, Happy Birthday starts shooting in January.

Says Gaurang, “We had signed John about a year back. But we we needed a strong charismatic and popular leading lady. Because Happy Birthday isn’t about just the male protagonist. When Ash said yes, everything fell into place. She has never been seen with John before. They look like Adonis and Venus together.”

John is on the look-out for new leading ladies to be paired opposite. In Water he’s paired with Lisa Ray, in Baabul with Rani Mukherjee and in Salaam-e-Ishq with Vidya Balan for the first time.

Says Gaurang, “The catch-line for Happy Birthday will be, ‘Those Who Don’t Believe In Magic Will Never Find It.’ We needed a magical pair. John and Ash have the quality.”

Adds John Abraham, “I think Aishwarya and I will make a good team. It’s a great script. Sriram is a super-director, and we’re excited.”

The music score is being done by Vishal-Shekhar.