Aishwarya Rai left her shooting schedule for Robot in Hyderabad for a day and air dashed to Madras to be with her mentor, Mani Ratnam who is hopitalised following a chest ailment.

Both Ash and Abhishek Bachchan have a high regard for Ratnam. He’s the director who has extracted the best performances from Abhishek so far – in films Yuva and Guru . And Ash has shared an almost familial relation with Ratnam ever since she made her acting debut in Mani’s film ‘Iruvar’ in 1997.

She was by Ratnam’s side for many hours and took a flight back to Hyderabad at night because she had to resume the shoot of ‘Robot’ the next morning.

A source said, “Ash was shooting with Rajnikant for Robot in Hyderabad when she heard about Mani’s hospitalisation. The actress took a day off from her shoot to visit the director in the hospital. Ash considers Mani to be family and he too thinks of her that way. In fact, Mani is the first director Ash worked with and the two have bonded over a period of time. Their bond grew after she became the Bachchan bahu. Interestingly, Raavana is Abhishek and Aishwarya’s third film with Mani, the earlier ones being Guru, where they were a pair; and Yuva with Abhishek and Iruvar with Aishwarya individually.”

Was Mani’s illness the couple’s excuse to spend exclusive time together? The source shot back, “There are these stories doing the rounds that Mani’s hospitalisation was an excuse for Abhi and Ash to take off on a holiday. But considering their closeness to Mani Ratnam, they cannot even think of doing that. In fact, it was Mani who suggested they take a break to celebrate their anniversary considering they hadn’t got a chance to be together in the past two years.”

Though Ash remained unavailable for comment, her official spokesperson confirmed the story and said, “Yes it is true that Ash flew down to Chennai to meet Mani.”