By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai,

(IANS) Producer Gaurang Doshi has roped in John Abraham and Aishwarya

Rai for his mystical romantic musical "Happy Birthday" and says "they

look like Adonis and Venus together".

They have not been paired before. "But if you close your eyes you

can see how good John and Aishwarya look together," Doshi told

IANS.

To be directed by Sriram Raghavan, who earlier did Ram Gopal Varma's

"Ek Hasina Thi", "Happy Birthday" starts shooting in January.

"We had signed John about a year back. But we needed a strong

charismatic and popular leading lady because 'Happy Birthday' isn't

about just the male protagonist. When Ash said yes, everything fell

into place. She has never been seen with John before," said Doshi.

John is on the lookout for new leading ladies. In "Water" he's

paired with Lisa Ray, in "Baabul" with Rani Mukerji and in "Salaam-e-

Ishq" with Vidya Balan for the first time.

"The catch-line for 'Happy Birthday' will be, 'Those who don't

believe in magic will never find it.' We needed a magical pair. John

and Ash have the quality."

"I think Aishwarya and I will make a good team. It's a great script.

Sriram is a super-director, and we're excited," said John.

The music score is by Vishal-Shekhar.