In a move that stunned Hollywood and left fans buzzing, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the dazzling star of Devdas, rejected a coveted role in the epic film Troy, starring Brad Pitt. While the world clamoured for the chance to see the Bollywood queen on the international stage, Aishwarya had her priorities firmly rooted in India.
Back when Devdas had captured hearts at the Cannes Film Festival, Aishwarya was inundated with offers from Hollywood. Among them was a significant role in Troy, but the catch? The producers wanted her to block off an astounding six to nine months of her calendar for what turned out to be a relatively small part. In an exclusive chat with SCREEN, Aishwarya reflected on the experience, revealing her surprise at the way Hollywood operated.
“They wanted me to lock off six to nine months because it was a huge film,” she explained, highlighting the stark difference between Bollywood’s shooting schedules and the extensive commitments expected in Tinseltown.
Despite the allure of such a high-profile project, Aishwarya felt the weight of her commitments back home. “Obviously, we have a way of looking at things to lock off that kind of time when you have that kind of albeit very small films here which I was committed to, I couldn’t get myself to just kick that to the curb,” she admitted.
In 2012, Brad himself weighed in on the casting debacle, expressing regret at Aishwarya’s absence from the film. “Given a chance, I would like to work with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, because she’s a versatile actor,” he said, acknowledging her immense talent and global appeal. The role ultimately went to Rose Byrne, but the lost opportunity has lingered in the industry’s collective memory.
Although Aishwarya turned down Troy, she eventually made her mark outside India with notable projects like the British film Bride and Prejudice (2004), a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel. She next starred alongside Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson in Jag Mundhra’s independent British drama Provoked (2006) as the real-life character Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a non-resident Indian who murders her husband after suffering years of domestic abuse.
Additionally, she lent her voice to the animated film The Pink Panther (2006), further cementing her status as a global icon before bagging a role in The Last Legion (2007), featuring Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, and Michael McElhatton.
The queen of B-Town, her choice to prioritise her commitments in India over a potentially career-defining role in Troy highlights a pivotal moment in her journeyone that many believe could have helped her shatter the glass ceiling in Hollywood. Yet, she continued to shine, taking on various international projects throughout the early 2000s, proving that her star power was undeniable, no matter where she chose to shine.
According to Pinkvilla, the Bollywood beauty revealed in a 2017 interview that she would never give up Indian cinema for Hollywood. “I was very clear about that. Also because I enjoy Indian cinema, I have had such wonderful directors to work with – I couldn’t get myself to do that. That’s because it is just a different rhythm. I know I can imagine some of our talent working there and experiencing it – it is exciting. It is wonderful to be part of cinema irrespective of which language or part of the world it is being made in. It is just a different rhythm with which we worked in India and overseas,” said the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil star.
