“Initially, Aishwarya had agreed to not only attend, but also perform at the event, for which she was being paid a hefty amount. But now, she has changed her mind,” says our source. So what’s caused this U-turn?

“Filmfare belongs to the same media house that owns one of the Mumbai tabloids – the same one that ran a very derogatory story about Aishwarya a couple of days back. And when she issued a statement, they simply published an edited version and haven’t yet officially apologized to her. This has upset the entire Bachchan family. And that’s why Ash has taken this stand,” says the source.

The 55th Filmfare Awards are being held this weekend at Yashraj Studios. Aishwarya, who hasn’t performed at an event such as this in a long time, was to be a coup for the award organizers. But following their sister publication’s story and then failure to make up for it, it looks like it won’t be happening any time soon. The other stars who are expected to perform on the Filmfare night are Shahid Kapur, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan.

Our calls and messages to Aishwarya’s spokesperson were not returned.