Aishwarya Rai has been offered the role of Yashodhara, wife of prince Siddhartha, in an English-Hindi bilingual film called ‘Buddha’ being made by a Paris-based Tibetan filmmaker. The star, whose portrayal of Jodha in Ashutosh Gowariker’s epic romance ‘Jodhaa Akbar was well-received, has been offered the role by director of spiritual and crossover films Pan Nalin of ‘Samsara’ fame.

Prince Siddhartha renounced the world, became a monk, attained nirvana and was known the world over as Gautama Buddha. Nalin, who was in Mumbai recently for the DVD launch of ‘Samsara’, told IANS that he met Aishwarya a few times and discussed the movie’s script with her.

India-born Nalin made waves internationally with his Buddhist crossover film ‘Samsara’, which had mixed cast comprising Ladhaki, Indian, American and Chinese actors. He followed it up with another crossover movie, ‘The Valley of Flowers.’ Nalin has penned the script in collaboration with Hollywood-based scriptwriter Tinker Lindsay.

‘Aishwarya has not yet said anything. But I am hopeful that she will agree to it. It is scheduled to go on the floor in August this year,’ Nalin said.