Aishwarya's pregnancy has led Santoshi, who had to postpone his film with her, to swear off stars for his new project. Earlier, Power due to date hassles had to be shelved

While Madhur Bhandarkar burnt bridges with the Bachchans when he aired his discomfiture over Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan walking out of Heroine, leading to the project being shelved, Rajkumar Santoshi didn't quite walk that path. He decided to postpone his Ladies & Gentlemen for a time when both, Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will be available for the film. Earlier, Santoshi's Power, another project with A-listers like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor also got shelved due to date issues.

Having had enough, he has now decided to make a new film about a love story with newcomers in the lead, something he hasn't done since 1995 when he cast Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna in Barsaat. Santoshi said about this yet-to-be-titled project, "I'm doing a love story with two new faces. Even the villain will be played by a newcomer. The film industry needs a lot more new talent. Else we will have to continue depending on the same stars."

A source, however, was more forthcoming about the reason. He said, "Santoshi has had enough with stars. Two of his back-to-back films with stars have been troubled projects. First, Power got shelved and now, Ladies & Gentlemen has been postponed." However, Santoshi makes it clear that he is not upset over having to postpone Ladies & Gentlemen. "I was going to make it with another heroine. But then I thought, why deprive myself of the pleasure of working with someone so lovely? It is unfortunate that there has been some unpleasantness surrounding such a happy event (Aishwarya's pregnancy)," he said.

- Mid-day