Aishwarya is Madhur Bhandarkar`s `Heroine`

Mumbai: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing the lead role in National Award winning director Madhur Bhandarkar`s upcoming film `Heroine`.

A formal announcement of the movie, a joint production of Bhandarkar and UTV, is expected to be made at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie is being touted as a hard-hitting and realistic take on a heroine`s life. "Aishwarya has agreed to be part of the project. Madhur and Aishwarya both will make the final announcement of this project at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13," a source close to the development told reporters. Earlier, Kareena Kapoor was approached for the role but after several meetings and discussions on the script, the actress politely turned down the offer for reasons best known to her, the source said. "The main story of `Heroine` by and large remains the same, though little changes have been made in the script," the source added. PTI