After three successful films together , Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan never came together in spite of several attempts to do so. There are reports that she was offered Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat by Bhansali. But , say these reports, they couldn’t find a suitable co-star for her.
This is not quite entirely true.Aishwarya WAS offered Bajirao at a very initial stage . When she made it clear that she wouldn’t work with Salman Khan again Aishwarya gave Bhansali the option of either casting Salman or she. Bhansali offered Mastani’s role to Kareena Kapoor.Eventually the film was made with a different lead pair Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone.
As for Padmaavat, it was always Deepika and Ranveer.
What Aishwarya was offered and she accepted initially was the item number in Goliyon Ki RaaslLila Ram Leela . Eventually Priyanka Chopra did the number. But it was first offered to Aishawrya .And she was happy to do it. But then she read the lyrics for the item song which went ‘Pyar se nahin thappad se darr lagta hai’, a line from Salman Khan’s Dabangg which Aishwarya refused to mouth.
She suggested that Bhansali change the lyrics. Bhansali changed the dancer instead. Eventually Priyanka did the number and the lyrics also changed to Ram chahe leela chahe.