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This is an archive article published on June 30, 2011
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Opinion Ash dropped from Heroine. Why?

Since Amitabh Bachchan delivered the big news of Aishwarya’s pregnancy on twitter,it’s been a hectic round of negotiations and deliberations between UTV and Madhur Bhandarkar.

New DelhiJune 30, 2011 06:08 PM IST First published on: Jun 30, 2011 at 06:08 PM IST

Since Amitabh Bachchan delivered the big news of Aishwarya’s pregnancy on twitter,it’s been a hectic round of negotiations and deliberations between UTV and Madhur Bhandarkar. As producers of Aishwarya’s forthcoming film,‘Heroine’,they finally decided to stop the shooting of the film. It is believed that the content of ‘Heroine’ required Ash to film scenes that entailed smoking,drinking,elaborate item numbers and also the occasional under the waterfall Mandakini sequence. Though Ash was keen to finish the film before her term date—which is November by the way—the producers felt otherwise.

A lot of newsprint has been spent on industry’s stance on gender discrimination and whether Bollywood producers will now insist on a ‘no pregnancy’ clause in contracts with heroines. Amidst all the noise,surprisingly Ash’s arch- enemy Sushmita Sen has taken up for the happy mommy-to-be. According to Sush,“I would show the producer the door if he gets a clause like that. I will not tolerate anyone telling me what I do outside my job. If you do not believe that I am a professional,don’t sign me,and if you believe that I’m a professional,don’t question my professional integrity and tell me about my personal life. Anyways producers will sign anyone if he/she has two hits then they won’t talk of any clause since then they need the actor to make a project.”

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The fiery Sush has exposed the double standards of the industry. My take on the Ash- pregnancy clause issue is simple: If producers want to include a no pregnancy clause then they should do it across the board for even male actors. If terms have to be dictated to female actors then even male actors should be told not to have a baby while their film is being shot. Come on,it’s the 21 st century,boss,equal rules should apply for everyone.

As regards Ash’s exit from ‘Heroine’,this is perhaps the third instance when she has been dropped from a film. Each time it made big news. Readers will remember the commotion that broke out when Shah Rukh Khan dropped Ash from his home production ‘Chalte Chalte’ after a ruckus was created on the sets allegedly by Salman Khan. Rani Mukerji replaced Ash. The latter never forgave the former and since then they haven’t spoken. Then Ash was dropped from Bobby Bedi’s ‘Mangal Pandey: The Rising’ because of some remuneration issues. A lot of back and forth happened between Bedi and Ash’s Hollywood agents,William Morris. It was said that Ash wanted to renegotiate the financial terms of her contract,which was not accepted by Bedi who found her replacement in Ameesha Patel.

Now it remains to be seen whether the producers of ‘Heroine’ will sign another female actor to kick-start the stalled project. It is being said that Priyanka Chopra is interested to team up with Madhur again after ‘Fashion’.

The ‘Heroine’ saga never ends.

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