Maker J.P. Dutta is currently in London in a bid to convince Aishwarya Rai to play the legendary role of the 19th century courtesan immortalised by Rekha in 1981.

Ash is already said to have given the nod for playing Maharani Gayatri Devi in Dutta's another venture. Says Hari Singh, Aishwarya Rai's Man Friday, "J.P. Dutta has offered two films to Aishwarya. He did speak to me about it and currently is in London meeting Ash in this regard."

Considering that writer-director O.P. Dutta, father of J.P. Dutta, had penned the script two decades ago and Dutta has been wanting to make the film for many years on Umrao Jaan, Ash's nod means a lot for the maker.

However, Hari Singh says Ash has still not conceded to Dutta's rendering of the Muzaffar Ali classic. "I will know in a few days. We need to look at the dates, the time gap between the two films, there are a lot of things to be sorted out. It will be immature at the moment to say anything more. Let their meeting happen first," he says.

Priyanka Chopra was Dutta's original choice to play Umrao Jaan. In an earlier interview, the actress who was excited on the opportunity, had even on record stated that she was brushing up her Kathak and Urdu, and that J.P. Dutta and she were actually working on the dates and should start shooting soon.

The actress also took a lot of pain to defy director Afzal Ahmed's claim that she was playing the title role of Umrao Jaan's daughter Mallika in his film that focused on the courtesan's daughter in Mallika Umrao Jaan Ada. Mallika's role went to Pakistani actress Meera. Will Umrao Jaan's go to Ash or will it still be Priyanka?