Aishwarya Rai

After Sushmita Sen decided to shelve her dream project on the valiant queen, director Ketan Mehta is thinking of reviving his project on Rani of Jhansi. Mehta had earlier planned the film as a sequel to his movie The Rising which was about the first Indian revolt of 1857 against the colonial British.

Mehta had even approached Aishwarya to play Rani Laxmibai. But the project never took off for various reasons, one of them being Mehta’s differences with producer Bobby Bedi.

Meanwhile, Sushmita Sen announced her plan to make a film on Laxmibai. She researched extensively for the film but all the hard work yielded nothing because she has ultimately decided not to go ahead with the project.

Spurred by this development, Mehta has decided to revive his shelved project. And, according to sources, Aishwarya Rai still happens to be his first choice to play the queen of Jhansi.

Ash has played a warrior in Hollywood film The Last Legion for which she trained in horse riding and sword fighting.

It seems Ash already has the skills to play a fearless and valiant queen.