When Aishwarya Rai was in the running to play a Bond girl: ‘They were waiting on the sets, watching her…’

Aishwarya Rai’s secretary at the time, Hari Singh, had confirmed as much to The Guardian, saying, “Yes, for Aishwarya, it’s something unbelievable. An international coordinating agency has approached us on behalf of the studio making the Bond movies.”

Aishwarya was shooting Rajkumar Santoshi’s Khakee at the time with popular faces like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn.

“They were waiting on the sets and watching the rehearsals, with Aishwarya, Amitabh Bachchan and others. They are keen to cast her. Let’s see what Aishwarya has to say. We’d have to rework our earlier schedules,” her secretary had told the publication. According to reports, other female talents who were being considered for the part included Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta and Preity Zinta.

Aishwarya Rai recently made her comeback to the movies after a gap of four years with the super successful Mani Ratnam directorial Ponniyin Selvan I.