Aishwarya Rai has opted out of Rajkumar San-toshi's Saamna. Ash's business manager Hari Singh confirmed the news saying, "Yes, it is true that Aishwarya has opted out of Saamna. There were genuine date problems. Ash is currently busy shooting for Umrao Jaan in Jaipur."

"After the completion of the shooting, she will start work on Dhoom 2, after which she will be shooting for Ashutosh Gowarikar's Akbar Jodha. All these films are start-to-finish projects. She really did not have a choice, but to opt out. She did that quite reluctantly."

Ash, who was away shooting for the film The Last Legion, had even made it a point to attend the mahurat of Santoshi's film. The film was to star Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead.

Singh added, "Rajkumar Santoshi and Ash share a wonderful working relationship. In fact, every film that Santoshi had announced and made in the recent past, was first offered to Ash. But she has been unable to make time."

Santoshi was keen on making a woman-oriented film with Ash. Singh said, "Things never really took off. He finally signed her for Khakee. The role was especially written keeping her in mind."