Aishwarya Rai

Rumours have it that Celina Jaitley will replace the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Chandraprakash Dwivedi ’s ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’.

Dwivedi, who made news with Pinjar , a film that was set during partition, had shown interest to make another periodical based on the life of Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan and was keen to cast Ash in the female lead role.

Filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi too wanted to make a film on Prithviraj and he had approached Ash to play the same role. It was Ajay Devgan who was to play Santoshi’s Prithviraj Chauhan. “I will be a part of that director’s film, who launches his movie first,” Ash had said then.

However, rumours now have it that Dwivedi is keen to cast Celina in the lead role.

Insiders also say that Ash’s recent marriage to Abhishek Bachchan has made the director consider Celina for the stellar role.

A source close to Celina confirmed that Dwivedi was considering Celina to play the Rajkumari with whom Prithviraj Chauhan falls in love.

“Celina has been approached for the said role but it is too premature to say anything now.”

The source added that Celina has been wanting to do a period film for a while now.

“If things work out between the director and her then this is one role that she does not want to miss out on. Considering that she likes to get into the skin of the characters she plays, she will not do a thorough research for the role. She will give it her best shot,” the source said.

But a source close to director Dwivedi says, “A film like Prithviraj Chauhan requires massive funds and Dwivedi is looking out for a business house to finance the film. All talks are in the initial stages and star cast at this point, is nothing but mere speculation. Celina is very much there on Dwivedi’s mind.”