After "Ok Kanmani" became one of the biggest hits of 2015 in Kollywood, Mani Ratnam is moving on to his next, which will reportedly feature Aishwarya Rai in the lead role.

Rumours are rife that Mani Ratnam's next will be a cross-border love story and the script has been lying with him for some years now. For this project, he had reportedly considered Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor to play the lead roles.

Mani Ratnam with Aishwarya Rai
A picture of Mani Ratnam with Aishwarya Rai.Varinder Chawla

The discussions were held around 2013, but the project did not materialise for some reasons. Now, the director seems to have picked the script again and is polishing it with new cast and fresh elements to the storyline, say rumour mills.

A report on Indiaglitz says that the movie is a love story between an Indian boy and Pakistani girl. The director's men are in the neighbouring country hunting for locations, the report adds. It also mentioned that it is a sequel to his classic "Bombay", which starred Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles.

The same website, in another report, claims that Mani Ratnam is working on the script and will tea, up with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan again. The project will be bankrolled by a corporate production house and will be made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages.

"Mani Ratnam is currently working on the script and it will be made as a film in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi simultaneously. He will join hands with a corporate production house for this mega budget movie," a source said, according to the website.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was launched in films by Mani Ratnam with his "Iruvar". Since then, she has worked with him in films like "Guru" and "Raavanan".

However, Aishwarya Rai, who had taken a break from acting after the birth of her daughter Aaradhya, is returning to acting with "Jazbaa". Soon, she will start Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", followed by a movie with Sujoy Ghosh.

Also Read