By Subhash K. Jha

Mumbai, Jun 13 (IANS): The Bachchans normally do not mix business with pleasure. But when Aishwarya Rai landed in Mumbai from Paris, she broke the golden rule when she dropped in unannounced to meet her actor husband Abhishek Bachchan at the Reliance Web World where he was doing out-of-town press interviews.

"Lately, Abhishek and Aishwarya have had very little time to spend together," said a source close to the actress who made the surprise visit Thursday.

"After their short anniversary holiday, Abhishek got busy with the shooting of Abhinay Deo's 'Game' in Greece, while Aishwarya returned to India for a stint of 'Robot'. She was then in Paris to honour (retired former World No.1 Brazilian tennis player) Gustavo Kuerten for his work with disadvantaged children."

"At the charity dinner that followed Aishwarya bonded with Steffi Graf and Mary Pierce and kept missing Abhishek because he's a big fan of both."

Both Abhishek and Aishwarya will be seen together in Mani Ratnam's "Raavan", but not as a couple. While southern star Vikram plays Ash's husband, Abhishek will be seen as her abductor. The film is releasing Friday.

The minute she landed in Mumbai from Paris, Aishwarya asked the family driver to take her wherever Abhishek was. A first for her because normally she doesn't intrude when her husband is working. Even when she joins him on long outdoors, she never hangs around the sets when he's shooting.

Said a friend of Aishwarya: "This time she made an exception because she was missing Abhishek all the way from Paris to Mumbai. And besides, Abhishek was doing promotional work for their film together. She not only met him, she also joined impromptu to talk to their fans on radio in Jaipur and Ahmedabad."

Another family friend said: "The funny part is, the Bachchans are never together these days. Now that Aishwarya is home, the senior Bachchan left for Paris...."