Ash hasn't lost to Katrina: Abhishek

Trashing rumours about his wife Aishwarya Rai losing out the Nakshatra diamond jewellery endorsement to Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan said it was his spouse who had taken the call to pull out.

Aishwarya has been the brand ambassador for Nakshatra diamond jewellery since 2004 and Katrina is now the new face for the brand.

"Nakshatra was discontinued by Aishwarya. It is false news that she lost out the endorsement to Katrina Kaif. Aishwarya had some conditions and the company did not come to terms with this, so she called it off," said Abhishek.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Omega Olympics Evening organised to honour the Indian contingent for the Beijing games.

The actor, who is busy with the Unforgettable Tour in the US, flew in for the event from San Francisco. He also explained the philosophy behind endorsement deals.

"Endorsements are not a competition. Nobody loses an endorsement. It is just that sometimes the technicalities don't work out between the endorser and the brand. At the end of the day, an endorser is asked to endorse a product because one's image looks best suited to the brand," said Abhishek who is the brand ambassador of Omega watches.

This is the second time this year that Katrina has overtaken Aishwarya in terms of popularity and endorsements.
Earlier, Katrina replaced her as the Bollywood star with the maximum number of downloads and searches on the Internet.

Asked about the response to the Unforgettable Tour, Abhishek said: "The experience is wonderful. The tour is meant to reach people who don't get to see enough of Bollywood action live. It is wonderful to perform on stage.

"We are through with one-quarter of the show with performances in Toronto, Trinidad and Tobago, Los Angeles and San Francisco."

Asked about reports that he had been taking dance lessons from Aishwarya for his "Unforgettable" performances, Abhishek quipped: "I learn everything that my wife teaches me. Once married you have to."

So how did the actor manage to find time from his hectic schedule to attend the Omega event?

"I think when you want to make out time, you always can and in this case, it was for a worthy cause."

Queried whether he too was planning to join the bandwagon of celebrity bloggers like his father Amitabh Bachchan, he promptly replied: "Blogs are a wonderful way of reaching out to audiences. I would like to blog, but I don't really have the time."

Abhishek flew back to the US on Friday and joined his family and Bollywood stars Preity Zinta, Riteish Deshmukh, composer duo Vishal-Shekhar and choreographer Shiamak Davar who are part of the Unforgettable Tour.

Their next performances are in London, Rotterdam and finally in the German city of Oberhausen.