AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN MAKING COMEBACK WITH ITEM SONG IN SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI'S "RAM LEELA"

The buzz in the market is that now Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is ready for a comeback and she has been sounded out by Sanjay Leela Bhansali to make it through an item song for his upcoming film RAM LEELA! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has an organic link with Bhansali. Before she took the sabbatical for motherhood, it was Bhansali's film GUZAARISH in which she had acted. Besides, it was, as a matter of fact Bhansali, who really pushed her into the Big league with HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, after which she never looked back. It was Bhansali again who pitted Ash against Madhuri Dixit in DEVDAS, where Ash held her ground with panache against Madhuri. No wonder Bhansali has been a sort of magic charm or catalyst for Ash whenever she needed a push to her career.

Coming back from a sabbatical an item song is perhaps the best way to revive one's presence amongst the heart of the fans. Ash after all has been the original item girl for Hindi cinema, when she made her appearance in BUNTY AUR BABLI with 'Kajrare' song, which set the trend for mainstream heroines to appear in item songs thenceforth to improve the visibility quotient of a film. Even a Madhuri Dixit also succumbed to it in YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI with her ghagra song.

For Ash the catch for her could be that a Kajrare happened eight years ago and after Kajrare she did not do an item song. On the flip side, the positive point for her would be that, if she agrees to do the item song for RAM LEELA, she can rest assured that the song would be trail blazing. After all, nobody picturises a song and conceptualizes it in the manner in which Sanjay Leela Bhansali does it. For Deepika Padukone it would be an interesting connection that she would be associated with two such films where biggies of Hindi cinema would have done an item number as Madhuri did it for YJHD and Ash could do it for RAM LEELA.

SONAKSHI BECOMES BHANSALI'S DANCING STAR

In a career spanning a decade and a half, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has made quite a few actresses go through the drill of some intense dancing. While he witnessed the pinnacle of dancing prowess once Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai came together for DEVDAS, the lofty standards set by him means that not many can boast of being appreciated by the man who knows a thing or two about song and dance routine. However, Sonakshi Sinha has now managed to get an entry into this elite club, what with her moves managing to catch attention of the maverick director.

''Sonakshi has impressed Sanjay a lot during the shooting schedule of ROWDY RATHORE,' says a well placed source, 'Though he doesn't like being on the sets when he has entrusted another director to make a film for him (in this case Prabhu Deva), he wanted to be around while the dance sequence was being shot since he loves the art. Also since he had heard a lot about Sonakshi's expertise with dancing, he wanted to get a first-hand experience.''

What he saw stunned him as the song was not just tough to dance on, it also had heavy weight Saroj Khan calling the shots.

''Yes, Sonakshi was doing a song with Saroj Khan on one side and Prabhu Deva on the other,' confirms Sanjay, 'Both of them are two of the most talented choreographers around and still Sonakshi was dancing away as if there was no tomorrow. She stood up to the pressure, worked really hard and met all the huge expectations I had from her.''

Continuing to sound really impressed by his newest leading lady, Sanjay adds, ''She is a talent to watch out for. It is wonderful to work with different minds, temperament and sensitivity as you end up learning from everyone. Trust me; I have taken so much from each and every one of them, whether it is Sonakshi or Akshay.''

Well Sanjay, now that you sound so pleased, are you hinting that these two could well form a part of your own directorial outing as well?