Aishwarya up against men for an award

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been nominated for the Best Actor in an Action Role - Male/Female category for "Jazbaa" for the forthcoming BIG Star Entertainment Awards 2015, where she is the only female actress to earn the spot.

Other nominations include names like Akshay Kumar for "Gabbar Is Back", Arjun Kapoor for "Tevar", Varun Dhawan for "Badlapur" and Saif Ali Khan for "Phantom".

The award ceremony will be held with the glitz and glitterati of tinsel town here later this month.

According to a critic, the Sanjay Gupta directorial is a well made, stylish action-drama, with strong screenplay and distinctive cinematography.

It narrated the story of the transformation of a confident criminal lawyer (played by Aishwarya) into a helpless and frustrated mother, trying to rescue her daughter from her kidnappers. It also stars Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi and Jackie Shroff.

Aishwarya, who ended her hiatus after her motherhood with "Jazbaa", is now working on Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".