Aishwarya Rai

How could it be that Aishwarya Rai not visit the ailing Mani Ratnam in hospital. He’s the man who launched her acting career.

Both Ash and Abhishek Bachchan have a high regard for Ratnam. He’s the director who has extracted the best performances from Abhishek so far – in films Yuva and Guru . And Ash has shared an almost familial relation with Ratnam ever since she made her acting debut in Mani’s film ‘Iruvar’ in 1997.

So recently when Ratnam was hospitalized, both Ash and Abhi were obviously concerned about the director’s health. Ash, who was shooting Shankar’s film Robot in Hyderabad, reportedly took a day off from work and flew to Chennai to spend a day with Ratnam at the hospital.

She was by Ratnam’s side for many hours and took a flight back to Hyderabad at night because she had to resume the shoot of ‘Robot’ the next morning.

Ash and Abhi were to resume the shooting of Ratnam’s film Ravana from April 20 but the schedule has been delayed due to Ratnam’s poor health. Due to the delay, the couple also decided to take a break and went off to an undisclosed location to mark their second wedding anniversary on April 20.