Will Smith, 37, will finally get to act with Aishwarya Rai or the other way round depending on who you think is more keen on the liaison! The Hollywood star was reportedly very smitten with Ash. On a week-long visit to India in February, Smith expressly asked to meet the Bollywood star and hit it off very well with her.

Will Smith's business manager, James Lassiter, then offered a lead role to Ash opposite Smith in a film that will hit the floors later this year.

Aishwarya was slated to act opposite Smith in last year's hit romantic comedy, Hitch, but the deal fell through. At that time, Ash was filming Bride and Prejudice and did not have the dates for Hitch.

Even now, it is not very clear if Ash will have the dates for the upcoming movie. The dates that Smith wants starting July has already been bespoken by the actress to director Ashutosh Gowarikar for the period film, Jodha Akbar.

Ash's business manager, Hari Singh is reported to have said, "We are in a bit of a situation. Aishwarya will obviously stick to her earlier commitment to 'Jodha Akbar' as she is very professional. But if she loses out on Will Smith's film, it would be a great loss. Let's see what happens. We're hoping for the best.'' Rai plans to request Gowariker to free her dates but it may not be possible because in that case, Hrithik Roshan, her co-star, would need to reschedule his dates too.

According to sources, Ash really likes the storyline and is very keen to do the film. Ash also sent a sari for Smith's wife Jada Pinkett, who couldn't make it to India because she was touring with her music band in the US.

The upcoming movie with Will Smith will be Ash's next international project after Jagmohan Mundra's "Provoked" and Doug Lefler's "The Lost Legion".