Aishwariya Rai was the first choice for the superhit movie of 1993, made on Mumbai riots, Bombay. But when she was approached by Rajeev Menon for dates, she was tied up with other work and couldn't allocate her dates for the film, which led Mani Ratnam to get Manisha Koirala on board for the role. A miss for her and Manisha did seem to make the most of it by giving a wonderful performance.