Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan collaborated on three films together — Josh, Mohabbatein, and Devdas (2002) — which showcased strong on-screen chemistry. However, according to Aishwarya, she was signed for approximately five additional projects with Shah Rukh Khan that never came to fruition, and she was never officially told why they were cancelled.

The most notable cancelled collaboration was Chalte Chalte (2003). Aishwarya was originally cast opposite Shah Rukh Khan but was replaced by Rani Mukherjee. Rumours circulated at the time linking her replacement to disturbances involving actor Salman Khan, who was dating Aishwarya, though no official explanation was ever provided. Shah Rukh Khan later acknowledged in interviews that the replacement was painful for Aishwarya, admitted he was wrong about the decision, and attributed it to business reasons related to the film.

Other films frequently cited as cancelled collaborations include Veer-Zaara and Kal Ho Naa Ho, though complete details about Aishwarya's involvement remain unclear. In interviews, Aishwarya revealed that these planned projects were cancelled without explanation. She stated that she did not question anyone about the cancellations and chose to accept the situation without confrontation.

The two actors reunited on screen only in 2016, when Shah Rukh Khan made a cameo appearance in Aishwarya's film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil — a brief reunion, 14 years after Devdas, that fell short of the full-fledged collaboration their fans had hoped for. Despite their proven chemistry and box-office success, the five unrealised projects between them remain among Bollywood's most intriguing unmade films.