Sushmita Sen's dream project the mega budgeted historical war epic Rani Laxmi Bai has not been shelved contrary to reports. Sush was to make her directorial debut with it apart from playing the lead role and producing it.

Reportedly, Sushmita was planning to go in for a co-production of the project with legendary filmmaker Manmohan Desai sharing the humongous Rs. 130 crore budget.

The film was to be shot on location in Madhya Pradesh and also a huge set was being planned to be erected at Mumbai's Filmcity. With recession creeping in most of Bollywood's big projects have either been kept on hold or postponed indefinitely or shelved.

Pressing aside rumors, Sushmita's spokesperson states, "It is false news that the film has been shelved. It is in fact been put on hold because of the credit crunch. Sushmita is still busy working on the research aspect of the movie."

Co-producer Ketan Desai also added, "It is a huge project and such a subject requires to be nurtured properly and presently we are still at a stage where we are working on it. The whole of Bollywood has been affected by the recession to some extent. This time will pass."