Director Madhur Bhandarkar shelves his dream project, 'Heroine'

News of Aishwarya Rai's pregnancy has come as a shock to director Madhur Bhandarkar, who has now decided to shelve his ambitious venture, Heroine.

According to sources, Bhandarkar was blissfully ignorant about her pregnancy and was busy making ambitious plans for his film.

However, now his dreams have come crashing down as he has realised that there is no way he can shoot the film with the dates given to him by the actress.

Also, the role requires her to smoke, dance, run around and do things, which are normally not advisable for a pregnant woman.

Even though Aishwarya is ready to shoot on the given dates, Madhur doesn't want to go ahead.

Apart from being worried about not being able to shoot with a five-month pregnant Ash, he is also concerned that she might not be available when the post-production and promotional work starts.

While the director has decided to go underground for a while, presumably because of this huge disappointment, a friend close to him informs, "About R 3.5-4 crore have gone down the drain.

About ten days of the shoot were completed at a set in Vile Parle, Mumbai.

The special set was erected and a red light area was recreated in it. Madhur was really excited about this movie. But because of the circumstances, he has no option but to shelve the project. No one anticipated this situation."

'Expecting' losses..

It is also said that a cosmetic brand that Aishwarya endorses, had invested R 50 lakh in the film, as sponsorship fees. Producers UTV Motion Pictures apparently stand to lose about R 3.5 crore in the bargain.