Aishwarya Rai is Santoshi’s first and last choice

Unlike Madhur Bhandakar who promptly dropped Aishwarya Rai from Heroine after learning of her pregnancy, director Raj Kumar Santoshi is in no mood to scout for another actress.
Rather, Santoshi prefers to postpone his film Ladies And Gentlemen which was to have Aishwarya Rai in the female lead opposite Abhishek Bachchan. Ash’s pregnancy has thrown a spanner in the works as the actress can’t shoot as long as she has a bun in the oven.
Santoshi, who is quite fond of the Bachchans, understands Ash’s position but is not in favour of replacing her with another actress.Rather, he is adamant on having Aishwarya in the film. So he would wait till Ash is fit to start working in films again.
However, a big question mark still looms on whether Aishwarya Rai will return to film shoots soon after the delivery because she will be needed to take care of the newborn baby. Moreover, since the Bachchans are known to put family over other things, it could be possible that Aishwarya Rai may not return to film for a long time.
Now that would certainly dishearten a lot of her fans, let alone filmmakers like Santoshi.