Hrithik's Guzaarish to Barbara Mori: Don't come to India

Asks Barbara Mori not to come to India to promote her Spanish film because it could draw attention away from his own flick
PS: Both films release the same week

Thanks to her Kites co-star Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori won't be flying down to Mumbai later this month to promote her Spanish flick My Brother's Wife.

Mori's film releases on November 19, the same day as Hrithik's Guzaarish.

Sources close to the actor reveal that he does not want Barbara in the city at a time when he will be promoting his film.

He believes Mori's presence in Mumbai will take attention away from his film and focus it onto them, given their history.

Don't spoil it for me!

It is learnt that Roshan Jr called Mori and categorically asked her not to come to Mumbai, even if this meant not promoting her own film.

Guzaarish is a sensitive and an important film for him, and Duggu doesn't want anything to affect the film's chances.

Incidentally, the Barbara-starrer will have a bilingual release in India. The Hindi version is called Spanish Beauty while the English one is called The Beautiful Wife.

Pen India has bought the nationwide rights to the film. Says an insider, "The clash of dates has put Hrithik and Barbara's friendship under strain.

Initially, Mori had confirmed to Pen India that she would fly down to Mumbai a week earlier (she was expected to arrive on November 12) but after Hrithik's call asking her to stay away, she is now in a fix.

She's not happy about being put in this position, but considering that she was brought to India by the Roshans, she has told her producers that she will not be available to travel to India for her own release."

The distributors have received feelers to move the release date of the Mexican actress' film but they are adamant about releasing the same day as the Sanjay Bhansali film.

The film's distributor Dhawal Gada claims Barbara has gone back on her promise, "We feel ours is a wonderful, emotional story which will connect with Indian audiences.

For the same, we corresponded with Ms Mori's manager Oscar for her participation in the promotions, beginning November 12.

Her manager responded that she would be busy with her play which opens in Mexico on that date. After that, we requested her to give a few video bytes for the promotions and that we'd even organise a crew in Mexico to cover it, but are still awaiting a response!"

Meanwhile, Duggu had this to say when contacted, " 'My Brother's Wife' is one of the movies we watched that concluded our search for the female lead in Kites. Its an award-winning film with a spectacular performance by Barbara. I wish it all the success."