Aishwarya Rai’s biggest flop film was rejected by a superstar, left director devastated, he stopped making films for 12 years, didn’t earn even Rs 10 crore

Umrao Jaan starred Rekha and the film was directed by Muzaffar Ali. The film is still regarded as a classic of Hindi cinema. Well, after the blockbuster hit, in 2006 director JP Dutta decided to make Umrao Jaan with Aishwarya Rai as the titular character. The film also starred Abhishek Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Suniel Shetty, Divya Dutta, and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in pivotal roles. Also Read – THIS Bollywood superstar was targeted for rejecting a movie later offered to Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor

Well, Aishwarya’s performance and JP Dutta’s direction did not impress the audience. The film tanked at the box office as it managed to make Rs 15 crore. This film became Aishwarya Rai‘s biggest flop which earned Rs 7.42 crore net in India, as per the Box Office India portal. Also Read – All Is Well! Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan happily pose together amid divorce rumours, see PICS

As per reports, the director JP Dutta had revealed that not Aishwarya, Priyanka Chopra was his first choice for the film. During an interview with a media portal, the director said, I had reached a stage where I had to take a decision. I wanted to work with Priyanka. I saw her as Umrao Jaan. But we were at a dead end.’ He also spilled beans on why Priyanka rejected the film and said that it was due to her clogged dates diary. Priyanka in an interview with a portal in 2005 said, ‘I had great plans about how to play the role. JP saab wanted 90 days of my dates at a stretch which I couldn’t give him. If it didn’t work out, then I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I can’t brood over what didn’t happen when there’s so much that’s happening’. Also Read – Vivek Oberoi makes THIS rare comment about Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan

If reports are to be believed then, JP Dutta was left devastated by Umrao Jaan’s failure. It took him 12 more years to direct his next feature Paltan. The film featured Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Harshvardhan Rane, Sonal Chauhan, and Esha Gupta among others. But, the war drama was also rejected by the audiences. Dutta later decided to make Border 2 and the film will release on January 23, 2026. Headlined by Sunny Deol, Diljit Dosanjh, an Varun Dhawan, Border 2 will be helmed by Anurag Singh.

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