Aishwarya will be Prithviraj's Sanjukta

Two prominent Bollywood filmmakers want to make a film on Rajput king Prithviraj and his ladylove Sanjukta. And both of them want to cast Aishwarya Rai in the female lead.

Vying for the epic project are Raj Kumar Santoshi and Chandraprakash Diwedi.

Aishwarya told IANS: "Raj Santoshi and I almost did Prithviraj-Sanjukta. But then we zeroed in on another subject called 'Saamna', which we're starting later this year. But Prithviraj-Sanjukta...is very much on, though not necessarily with Rajji.

"Chandraprakash Diwedi wanted to make the same subject. He earlier offered me 'Pinjar'. I couldn't do 'Pinjar'. But he was adamant to do Prithviraj-Sanjukta with me. I told him I was ethically committed to Raj Santoshi for the subject. He said, 'Do both'.

"But why should two good filmmakers make the same film? The core personality of the historical figure gets diluted in the duplication."

Aishwarya has a point. This happened with Santoshi and Guddu Dhanoa's bio-pics on Bhagat Singh.

"The whole idea gets lost in superficial comparisons. I spoke to both. We've decided I'll be Sanjukta for whoever makes the film first.

"They both agreed only one of them would make the film. This was the settlement worked out amicably among the three of us. Both Raj ji and Chandraprakash ji have done ample research and are ready to share their knowledge with each other."

So who will finally make this prestigious costume epic? Perhaps Diwedi.

Santoshi is currently busy with "Family", featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. After that he goes straight into "Saamna" with Aishwarya, Ajay Devgan and Akshay. Thereafter he's working on another film with Ajay.

The kind of discipline, dedication and focus required for an immense project like Prithviraj-Sanjukta is to be found only in a filmmaker with one assignment on hand.

After proving himself in the partition saga "Pinjar", Diwedi will probably wangle the prized project.

But Santoshi or Diwedi, Aishwarya wins both ways.