Mani Ratnam's Raavana inevitably tops the list. This film is a modern day adaptation of Ramayana and is being shot for Hindi and Tamil versions, where Aishwarya will portray Sita in both. The story has been told from the king of demons, Raavana's point of view. An amazing news is that in the Hindi version, Sita (Aishwariya) will be abducted by her real life hubby Abhishek Bachchan who will play the role of Raavana. Slotted for release this June, the movie has an investment of approximately Rs. 45 crores (450 million). It is heard that the shooting regime for this movie was extremely hard in terms of geographic and weather factors, but Aish was dedicated to her task and did it all without tantrums or qualms.
Next is Endhiran. Boasting of a Rs. 125 crores (1.25 million) budget, this bilingual sci-fi is directed by Shankar along with veteran Rajinikanth who is confident of the movie's success as Aishwarya Rai is all set to travel with him in the movie.
Pairing up with khiladi Akshay Kumar for the second time Aishwarya will sizzle in this Vipul Shah's flick Action Replay, which is due for release in the latter half of 2010. This Aish-Akki starrer is said to be costing the production upto Rs. 60 crores (600 million). A time travel tale that goes back to the 50's, the story is based on an eponymous Gujrati Indian play, wherein the director has gone many lengths to assure the freshness of retro avatars for the lead stars. Shah, who has roped in designers Manish Malhotra and Shabina Khan for this task is positive that the appearances of the actors in this movie are its biggest USP.
Last, but certainly not the least in terms of its anticipating audiences, is Guzaarish that marks the comeback of renowned director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the much-loved on screen pair of Aishwarya-Hrithik Roshan, after the success of Ashutosh's Jodha Akbar. The film's script is very fresh because it's about a married nurse who falls in love with a paraplegic man portrayed by adonis Hrithik. UTV has been reported to shell out as much as Rs. 80 crores (800 million) in the making of Guzaarish.
With this Aishwarya becomes the most expensive heroine with Rs 300 crore riding on her defeating her contemporaries. Aishwarya will be portraying a vast variety of roles in her movies this year and along with significant cash doled out for these ventures, we sure hope the movies will haul back ample gold for blue eyed lady at BO.
