/> It's an open secret that John Abraham is very keen to be cast opposite Aishwarya Rai. He believes they'd make a very handsome screen pair.

And when their first celluloid coupling in Sriram Raghavan's Happy Birthday fell apart, John was bitterly disappointed to lose out on an eminently viable co-star.

Things worked out pretty smoothly after the Birthday fiasco. Director Sriram who has just released a fascinating noire film Johnny Gaddaar was quickly convinced by John to launch another project with Ash.

This is an intense love story for Abhishek's childhood buddy producer Rohan Sippy to commence shooting in November.

However Aishwarya currently shooting in Boston for Pink Panther 2 has serious second thoughts.

Says a source, "Ash opted out of Karan Johar's film because she didn't want to play a woman who has a multiplicity of men in her life. Now in Sriram's film she'd rather not do an intense romance with John.

After marriage Aishwarya's personal and professional priorities have changed completely. She was always conscious of her image. Now she'll do nothing that would even remotely compromise her position as the Bachchan Bahu."

Producer Rohan Sippy remains convinced Ash is the right choice for Sriram's film.

He flies to the US this week and then to Boston for an emergency meeting with Aishwarya, hoping to convince her of the project's urgent need of her presence.

Says the film's director Sriram Raghavan, "The project is an untitled love story which I need to go into right away in the first week of November. John's dates are in place. He can't give us dates after January 2008. Ash is shooting in Boston.

And Rohan is flying to meet her. Hopefully things will be in place once he returns. Ramu showed me a promo of Sarkar Raj. Ash's performance just blew my mind. I really want to work with her."

Until the producer's return, everyone on the project has fingers crossed.