It was a worldwide box office hit which garnered more than $140 million when Steve Martin starred as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther. With a hottie like Beyonce Knowles keeping him company in the first part, it is none other than Aishwarya Rai who will be starring in the sequel The Pink Panther 2. The sequel which was announced in March 2006 is slated for worldwide release on Feb 13, 2009. Cleese will play chief inspector Dreyfus in the pic. Garcia, Molina and Rai have signed on as detectives and experts who join forces with Clouseau to catch the thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world. The Indian fans of Ash can truly rejoice with the lady grabbing a key role in the Columbia Pictures/MGM production. Her international stints have had a mixed response. Her first stint in an english movie was in Gurinder Chadha’s Bride And Prejudice, but was more of a hit overseas than in her own country. Her proposed casting alongside the Hollywood’s most acclaimed veteran actress Meryl Streep as a prostitute, was shelved much to everyone’s disappointment. The desi touch didn’t leave her in The Last Legion where she stars with biggies Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley, and has done some splendid performance, as she was cast in the role of Mira, a warrior from Kerala. Though things are looking up now that she has signed to be a part of Pink Panther 2, to be directed by Harald Zwart (”Agent Cody Banks”), it was never like she wasn’t offered any great roles, or considered for them. Here is a list of Indian and international movies in which she was actually meant to star, and others for which she was considered. And trust us, you’ll be surprised at what she might have been a part of:

1) She was one of the many actresses who turned down the role of Tina inKuch Kuch Hota Hai. And no one benefited from it as much as Rani Mukerji. Bad move!
2) She was supposed to do Amisha Patel’s role as Jwala in Rising: The Ballad Of Mangal Pandey. But she was allegedly dropped after she demanded double her asking price of 15 million rupees. Seemingly a good move as the movie bombed.
3) She declined to be Dr. Suman aka Chinky in Munnabhai M.B.B.S. Very bad move!
4) She had to decline the title role in Bajirao Mastani as Salman Khan had already signed the movie and Sanjay Leela Bhansali wouldn’t do it with any other pair. The movie is shelved, and Indian cinema has lost out on what could have been another masterpiece.

5) She was dropped from Chalte Chalte when Salman Khan barged on to the sets and created ruckus by abusing producer-actor Shah Rukh Khan and Aziz Mirza and dragging Rai and forcibly taking her away on the first day of the shoot itself after Rai already shot for some scenes. Rani Mukerji was called to avoid the losses of a day’s shoot and she agreed right away to do the role without even reading the script. Ash was not aware of this and later she said in a press statement that she will never work with Salman again. Apparantly, this was one of the reasons why she left Salman as he had started affecting her work. The movie was also rumoured to be the reason why Ash stopped being good friends with Rani, as well as SRK.

6) She was Jackie Chan’s interest as the Indian princes in The Myth. Good that she declined it due to her touring schedule coz the movie was a wash out everywhere, though Mallika Sherawat gained maximum mileage from the role.

7) Diane Kruger did the role of Helen in the epic movie Troy after Ash turned down the role. Bad move!

8) She had to turn down starring opposite Will Smith in the Hitch as she was so busy with other movies. The role eventually went to Eva Mendes. Bad, coz the movie remains a favourite around the globe.

9) Bipasha Basu played the role of Anna in Barsaat opposite Bobby Deol and alongside Priyanka Chopra. Ash was supposed to play Anna, but turned it down. Not a big deal as the movie was nothing to write home about.
10) She was originally signed on to play the part of Simmi in Bluff Master but was replaced without any notice by Priyanka Chopra. Director Rohan Sippy then gave Aishwarya a “special thanks” in the end credits as an apology.

11) She was considered for the role of Priya opposite who else but Duggu aka Hrithik

Roshan in Krrish. Director Rakesh Roshan said in an interview that he wanted to cast her. The role was eventually done by Priyanka Chopra who drew flak for her look in the film though. But it was ok, as she sizzled on the screen with him in Dhoom:2.

12) Little is it known that when Simi Garewal asked her that Veer-Zaara was written for her, she was talking about the role of Pakistani lawyer Samya Siddiqui which was done by Rani Mukerji. Very bad, coz this time it was alleged that her troubled relations with SRK led her to remain away from the movie.

13) A highly bad move was turning down Bipasha Basu’s role in Corporate. But she didn’t have any dates for the movie too.

14) She was considered for the role of Kalyani in Deepa Mehta’s Water. Lisa Ray took up the role.

15) She was the first choice for the role of Jane Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith but she turned it down due to filming conflicts. Shocked?

16) She said no to Rani Mukerji’s role in Baabul. The movie didn’t do well.
17) Director Brett Ratner is a fan of Aishwarya’s and he wanted her to be cast in Rush Hour 3 but she turned down the offer.

18) She was considered for the role in Casino Royale which was eventually done by Eva Mendes.

And last but definitely not the least, she was invited in 2005 to be a presenter at The 77th Annual Academy Awards but was unable to attend because she was busy filming for The Mistress of Spices. The movie bombed badly.
But take heart. The queen of Bollywood remains numero uno and gets an average of 2 movie offers a day. Hopefully much better roles will come her way. We wish her a big ALL THE BEST. Keep rocking!