By Jilawatan

In her latest film Raavan in Hindi and Raavanan in Tamil, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays Ragini, the wife of a police officer who is abducted.

It’s a role which involved working in tough terrain, heavy rains and amongst creatures of the jungle. In this interview, she speaks about her role, the challenges of working in a bilingual and her co-artists. Excerpts of a teleconference.

All about your character in Raavan and Raavanan
There has been a lot of talk that my character is based on a modern day Sita from “Ramayan”, which is not true. I think all the stories can be drawn parallel to our epics because at the end it is all about inter-personal relationship. My character Ragini is Mani’s perception of this strong willed woman abducted by Beera. And the story is about the dynamics between the three characters- Beera, Dev and Ragini.

By Jilawatan

2010, hitherto, hasn’t been very successful for the Bollywood planet with most of the films biting the dust. Except for Shahrukh Khan’s ‘My Name is Khan’ and Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’, the response has been lukewarm and discouraging.
But, the summer promises to be hotter as two of the sexiest women gear up for a battle ahead.
1. Katrina Kaif- With the IPL fever set to die down, Bollywood’s next awaited release will feature glam doll Katrina Kaif in the most challenging and meatiest role of her career thus far. In ‘Rajneeti’ where she plays a woman politician (loosely based on Sonia Gandhi’s life), Katrina has an opportunity to showcase her acting mettle. For a change, she would be wearing a simple sari and not those itsy-bitsy clothes which have made her a perfect eye candy in a slew of hot films.
2. Aishwarya Rai- Don’t blame it on the climate, if the temperature becomes unbearably hot this summer. As after a long gap, Ash is set to invade the theatres with ‘Raavan’ where she plays Sita (a modern day take of the epic Ramayana). Besides, she will take us back down those beautiful memory lanes of the 70s in ‘Action Replayy’ opposite the sexy Akshay Kumar.
So, it was worth a wait. But, now the time has come for a screen war between the two glittering stars to fight for the crown. It’s experience v/s. experiment. It’s Aishwarya v/s. Katrina. Let the war begin……..

By Jilawatan

AISHWARYA Rai Bachchan has opted out of Crooked, a thriller in which she was meant to be paired opposite Abhi- shek Bachchan, as her dates were clashing with Vipul Shah’s movie about time travel, Action Replay. A search is on to replace to the actress for this movie that also stars Farhan Akthar and will be directed by Abhinay Deol, the new director in Bollywood who is also making Aamir Khan’s next home production, Delhi Belly

By Jilawatan

It might sound highly childish or silly and foolish when we say that Kareena Kapoor is deeply insecure about her beauty. And you know from whom? Of course, the one of the most beautiful ladies on earth Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Apparently, when Bebo found out that Ash adorned the cover of film magazine with the cover story as 50 most beautiful people, Kareena got one done for herself too but on a different magazine.
A source reveals that after Bebo found out that Aishwarya Rai was gracing a ‘50 Most Beautiful People cover on a film magazine, she pulled strings and managed to get herself on the cover of another magazine doing the same story on the 50 most beautiful people in the country. Gosh!
We don’t understand when you have the likes of Aamir Khan falling head over heels for your beauty, why do you need to resort to such cheap measures to make yourself feel beautiful. We hope you have heard the phrase Beauty lies in the eyes of the Beholder, Bebo! It’s up to the readers to decide who’s looking beautiful.

By Jilawatan

The big Khans of Bollywood – Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan [^], Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan [^] are not attending this year’s IIFA Awards function but Bollywood’s power couple Abhishek Bachchan [^] and Aishwarya Bachchan have managed to heat up Macau.Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya have arrived Macau for the 10th edition of IIFA Awards. The couple looked happy and excited. Abhishek even got hold of the video camera of one of the journalists and gestured to the onlooking fans. He said that the event would be fantastic.

Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of the IIFA Awards 2009. Actress Lara Dutta will host the awards ceremony along with Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh. Jackky Bhagnani, who is making Bollywood debut with Kal Kissne Dekha is going to perform at the event.

By Jilawatan

Despite rumours Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai remain a happily married couple. The two celebrated their second marriage ceremony in Europe before returning back to India to shoot for their next Mani Ratnam film.

Earlier it was expected the two leading stars of the Indian filmdom will celebrate their wedding anniversary on the sets of the film Ravana. But finally they were able to enjoy a quite wedding anniversary somewhere in Europe.

Says a source, “Last year, Abhishek was slogging it out in Miami for Dostana and Aishwarya joined him there for their first Wedding Anniversary.

This year, they were again supposed to be working, though happily together, for the next schedule of Mani Ratnam’s Raavan on their anniversary.”

By Jilawatan

The lukewarm response to her recent Hollywood release Pink Panther-II has had Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (35) conceding her position as the most popular face of Bollywood.

In the West to the new international craze 24-year-old Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), who according to reliable sources has been signed for two films — one with Woody Allen and the second with Julian Schnabel.

Freida, who is said to have earned over two million pounds, overtaking Bollywood beauties like Aishwarya, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif is also, according to a world film distributor, being wooed to walk the red carpet at Cannes in May 2009.

On the Bollywood front, Kareena Kapoor (28) has nudged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan out of the Filmfare Top-10 Power list.

But a producer from Chennai confirms that Ash is still the highest paid Indian heroine and has reportedly been paid a fee of Rs six crore for Shankar’s Robot, where she is cast opposite Rajnikant.

BY Jilawatan

The first ‘bahu’ of Bollywood, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, may have competition back home from sis-in-law Shrima Rai, who won first runners-up at the Shrima Rai
Mrs India contest. We speak to the lady…

How did Mrs India happen?
I was busy with investment consulting for Standard Chartered, when I decided to send my portfolio to Gladrags. I was shortlisted and here I am.

All your family was there except Aishwarya. Why?
All my family was there to support me. Pa-in-law and mom-in-law were nervous, but Aditya was the most nervous! Ash could not come as she was busy shooting for her film, but that didn’t stop her from calling and messaging me.

Did you get some modelling tips from her?
Ash is a pro at walking the ramp and has won pageants too. She shared some tips with me regarding the walk and expressions, but the one important thing she told me was that I should forget about everything and just enjoy the experience. And that actually helped me a lot.

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been rated the most bankable Bollywood actor in Hollywood. This topples Bollywood biggies like Shah Rukh, Aamir or even the Hollywood-experienced Freida Pinto. Under this light, it seems a little ironic that Bollywood has never had any official ‘most bankable’ actress.

When asked about this phenomenon by a channel, Aishwarya Rai contempelated, “From the time I had joined the industry I was forewarned about this difference. And since then, I have wondered if I work with this notion in mind or just go ahead doing my work?”

True to her diplomatic, always-diplomatically-correct self, Ash went on to say, “And I realise that I just do my work. I don’t believe I have ever been treated any different.

At anytime, anyone of us does well for the entire gender. I have definitely been regarded as an equal part of the cast always!” With her ever-increasing correctness politically, one wonders when the beauty will actually plunge into the career she is indirectly doing so well

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai undergoes training to sing classical Indian. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a thoroughly professional actress and she is ready to go the extra-mile to get under the skin of her character. For her upcoming movie, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will undergo training in Indian classical singing.

According to news reports, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is going to play the character of Sita in Mani Ratnam’s movie, Raavan. The movie is based on famous Indian epic, Ramayana.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing the character of Sita and hubby Abhishek Bachchan will play the character of Ram and Govinda will play the role of Hanuman.

In real life, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is quite a good singer but not good enough to sing classical songs. For her role, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wants to sing all the songs by herself. She will take lessons from a guru.