Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Comeback Film with Mani Ratnam Delayed?

Fans of former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan might have to wait some more time to see the actress back onscreen.

The actress, who has been on a sabbatical ever since "Guzaarish" (2010), due to her daughter Aaradhya's birth, is now ready to return to the big screen. And after months of speculations and going through several scripts, the beauty finally gave her nod to mentor Mani Ratnam's film.

But it now seems Bachchan's comeback film is facing some hurdles as the film's scheduled June shoot has reportedly been postponed.

According to a Daily Bhaskar report, one of the film's male leads Mahesh Babu's date issues has proved to be a hitch to the project. The actor is said to have demanded more time to wrap up his current project, which directly has pushed Ratnam film's schedule for later this year, probably August or September.

Delay in shoot invariably means delay in the film's release. And since the thriller is expected to be shot vastly at international locations, the release date will be heavily affected by the delay.

However, other reports claim that Babu's present Telugu project "Aagadu" is right on schedule and there have been no reports of date extensions yet. So it remains to be seen whether the delay reports are just rumours and the Ratnam film begins on the allotted schedule.

Apart from Mahesh and Bachchan, the film, which is expected to be an espionage thriller, will feature Nagarjuna, Shruti Hassan and another female actress.

Meanwhile, Bachchan also has renowned ad film director Prahlad Kakkar's feature directorial debut in hand where she is likely to pair up with contemporary Sushmita Sen. So even if Ratnam's film gets delayed, the actress can always allot the time to Kakkar's project.