Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to begin work on Sanjay Gupta's next

Nearly five years after Aaradhya’s birth, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be back to work on Jan 12. Bachchan, along with Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi and Anupam Kher will undergo an elaborate script-reading session for Sanjay Gupta’s next directorial venture.

The last time she faced the camera was way back in 2010, when she was shooting for filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish.

Aishwarya-Rai-Bachchan-to-begin-work-on-Sanjay-Gupta-s-next-Photo-AFP

Now, nearly five years later — and post Aaradhya’s birth — Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be back to work on Monday (January 12). The actor, along with her co-stars Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi and Anupam Kher, among others, will undergo an elaborate script-reading session for Sanjay Gupta’s next directorial venture.

An insider says, "The makers want the actors and other technicians to be comfortable with one another and let them understand each other’s working styles before the film starts rolling. That’s why the entire primary, as well as secondary cast (of about 17-18 actors) in addition to the heads of the other departments of the movie, will be present at the script-reading session."

Incidentally, the script-reading session was supposed to take place on January 9, but had to be delayed due to Irrfan’s ill health. "Yes, we would have got it done on Friday, but Irrfan was bedridden so we couldn’t do it. But now, we are set to go ahead on Monday," confirms Gupta, who will fine-tune the script with his team "to perfection" before the script-reading session.

Ask Gupta why he is holding such a session, which isn’t the norm in Bollywood, and he says, "Internationally, it’s the norm. More than anything, it helps the cast bond with each other before the shooting starts. It’s a better arrangement than having the actors reach the sets and directly begin reading their lines in front of each other."