The news of Ash joining Bong girls' brigade, made lots of rounds in Bollywood when the actress was ailing in the hospital. But the Catherine McCormack of Eon Productions, which looks after the Bond franchise, said there never was talk of Rai or any other Indian actress being in the reckoning for the role. Sources in Los Angeles confirm, "The next Bond film is far from production. Besides Pierce Brosnan, nothing else has been decided. Not even the script. How would they know if they require an Indian girl?"

So does that mean the end of Hollywood Dream for this reigning queen? Not exactly. She has already been cast by the talented director Gurinder Chadha for her upcoming movie Bride and Prejudice. And pitted against her in the lead role is Martin Henderson from the international blockbuster The Ring.

She has Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali Chokher Bali. In Mumbai, she has leading roles in Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee, opposite Akshay Kumar, and in debutant Samir Karnik's Kyun? Ho Gaya Na Pyaar, with Vivek Oberoi. She also has a cameo in Ketan Mehta's Aamir Khan-centric historical, The Uprising, which has Rani Mukerji as the heroine. Roland Joffe's The Invaders, in which she stars with Oberoi, has not gone beyond the nnouncement stage. The filmmaker is looking at Mumbai producers like Pahlaj Nihalani for finance.