Aishwarya to play wife of Prince Sidhartha!

Aishwarya Rai has been offered the role of Yashodhara, wife of prince Siddhartha, in an English-Hindi bilingual film titled Buddha being made by a Paris-based Indian filmmaker. The star, whose portrayal of Jodha in Ashutosh Gowariker's epic romance Jodhaa Akbar was well-received, has been offered the role by director of spiritual and crossover films Pan Nalin of Samsara fame, as said by the agencies.

Born in India, Prince Siddhartha renounced the world, became a monk, attained nirvana and was known the world over as Gautama Buddha. India-born Nalin made waves internationally with his Buddhist crossover film Samsara, which had mixed cast comprising Ladhaki, Indian, American and Chinese actors. He followed it up with another crossover movie, The Valley of Flowers.

"Aishwarya has not yet said anything. But I am hopeful that she will agree to it. It is scheduled to go on the floor in August this year," Nalin said.

A self-taught filmmaker, Nalin's debut film Samsara won 30 international awards. The movie tells the story of a monk, who leaves his monastery in Ladakh after meditating for years to experience the pleasures of matrimony and returns to his cloister after undergoing the trials and tribulations of a commoner's life. But unlike elsewhere in the world, Samsara came a cropper at the Box Office in India when Sony released it in 2006.