Amitabh Bachchan defends Aishwarya Rai over pregnancy claims

Amitabh Bachchan has defended his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan against claims that she caused the makers of Heroine serious losses.

The actress was accused by director Madhur Bhandarkar of costing the project thousands after it had to be scrapped over continuity issues.

Bachchan told DNA: "Everybody knew that Aishwarya was married when she signed the film.

"So you mean to say that actors can't get married or have children? I don't think this can be a part of any contract that you cannot get married or have children if you working in a project."

He continued: "Whatever has happened between Aishwarya, Madhur [Bhandarkar, co-producer] and UTV [co-producer] is between them. I know that the rumours going around are not true. I hope that the truth comes out soon."

Bachchan cited projects such as Shoe Bite, on which he worked with UTV, which have remained without distribution.

Rai-Bachchan is married to the veteran actor's son Abhishek, prompting Bachchan to announce the news on Twitter ahead of any formal statement.

A source close to the family added that Rai-Bachnan is not yet ready to respond to the claims by Bhandarkar but that it is common for completed projects to be canned.

Bhandarkar also claimed that Rai-Bachchan had hidden her pregnancy from producers when she found out, leaving the news to come out in the media.

The former Miss World is said to be upset that the reaction to her pregnancy has been dominated by the movie's cancellation when "the actual film shooting hadn't even begun".

Rai-Bachchan's pregnancy has caused some producers to speak out about including pregnancy clauses in contracts with their female stars.