Rani Mukherjee and Aishwarya Rai were once close friends who shared a strong bond with Rani even promising on TV that they would be “friends forever”. Their friendship reportedly broke after Aishwarya was replaced by Rani in Chalte Chalte.
There was also a cold war because of Rani’s rumoured past romance with Abhishek. Actually, as per reports Jaya Bachchan was not happy with Abhishek’s relationship with Rani and never wanted them to get married.
Rani had also confirmed that Aishwarya had problems with her as she was the one who stopped talking on the phone and meeting socially.
When Aishwarya and Abhishek got married they didn't invite their ‘once close’ friend Rani to their wedding. Following the wedding snub, Rani remarked that it became clear that they were just co-stars not friends.
As time passed they re-evaulated their friendship to some extent and were spotted together at Manish Malhotra's residence. Rani even visited Aishwarya on her father's demise.
So, Abhishek Bachchan had a lot to do with it. The two actresses surely had a cold-war equation but they never let that pressure brew any kind of rivalry between them.
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