Aishwarya has a super-busy shoot schedule ahead

Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) Aishwarya Rai sure has a crowded year ahead, having signed movies with filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj, Rituparno Ghosh, Abhinay Deo and Vipul Shah. And the actress says each of these films is equally challenging and &#39special&#39 to her.
The former Miss World has something unique to say about each movie and filmmaker.

&#39Ritu-da and I have agreed to work together again after &#39Chokher Bali&#39 and &#39Raincoat&#39 in Bengali and Hindi respectively. Our next film together is a bilingual. And very challenging,&#39 said Aishwarya.

&#39As for Abhinay Deo&#39s film it&#39s got me and Abhishek (Bachchan) in it. But it covers a territory very different from what audiences have seen in &#39Guru&#39, &#39Dhoom 2&#39 and &#39Sarkar Raj&#39. Abhinay&#39s film is also very different from Mani Ratnam&#39s &#39Raavan&#39. It&#39s a special challenge to work with my husband because we&#39ve to make sure we don&#39t repeat ourselves,&#39 the Bachchan daughter-in-law added.

The &#39super-busy&#39 star is also looking forward to working with Akshay Kumar after a long time in Vipul Shah&#39s next movie.

&#39It&#39s something that Vipul, Akshay and I haven&#39t done before. The last time Akshay and I came together in &#39Khakee&#39 we played almost antagonists. This time we&#39ll hopefully play a more compatible couple,&#39 Aishwarya laughed.

So why the sudden flurry of activity this year?

&#39These are projects with directors whom I&#39ve wanted to work with for a long time. To say no to them when we both are so keen to work with one another seems inappropriate,&#39 she explained.

A project audiences are awaiting is the one where Aishwarya teams up with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj for the first time.

&#39Vishal and I have wanted to work together ever since he was the music composer on a project that got shelved. We had promised one another that I&#39d star in his film whenever he turned director.&#39

Right after his directorial debut with children&#39s film &#39Makdee&#39, Vishal had offered Aishwarya a film called & Timbuctoo& but it got shelved.

&#39I was very impressed by Vishal&#39s work. But he insisted that we&#39ll work together only when he finds the absolutely right project. That has finally happened. Vishal has bounced the script off me. And we both feel this is the right project for us to come together.&#39

The project will go into production by the year-end.