Mumbai: As the release of this year's only historical epic, Jodhaa Akbar, approaches, there are questions as to how the audience will react to the two fiercely contemporary stars like Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in a lavish costume drama, especially since they were last seen doing something as unabashedly trendy and new-millennium as Dhoom 2.

Can Hrithik and Aishwarya pull off a Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in the new-age Mughal-e-Azam?

Hrithik is unfazed by the challenge. "The expectations are definitely high. They always are, when it comes to an Ashutosh Gowariker film, and that too a historical.

But there's a new aspect to the whole challenge, namely the fact that the pair which appeared so successfully in the previous film is now doing something radically different.

But that's not something Aishwarya and I nor Ashutosh need to keep in mind. Our job was to be completely true to our film without bothering about the repercussions of what came before or after Jodhaa Akbar."

Hrithik gives Ashutosh Gowariker full marks for sincerity. "By the grace of God, we have created another Dhoom this time."