By Jilawatan

At 36, the still spotless, alabaster beauty of Aishwarya Rai beggars description. The former Miss World has hogged the top spot in Bollywood for many years and has now comfortably stepped into her own niche while the likes of younger beauties like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoo and Priyanka Chopra vie for the roost.

Once named the ninth most beautiful woman in the world, Ash is still a stunner as is evident from the stills of her upcoming Tamil movie Endhiran.

Directed by Shankar, the film is a sci-fi thriller starring Ash with Rajnikant. It is touted as the most expensive movie to be made in India so far, with its budget touching the whopping figure of Rs 165 crores. While there are still months for the movie to hit the marquee, we bring you some breathtaking stills of Aishwarya Rai in Endhiran.

By Jilawatan

Endhiran starring Aishwarya Rai and Tamil superstar Rajnikant finally has a release date – September 3, but it is still not official.

A formal announcement is imminent according to IANS.

The film has been long in the making; production started in September 2008 in Machu Picchu in Peru.

The Tamil title Endhiran is based on the work of the late writer Sujatha’s novels En Iniya Iyanthira and Jeeno.

It has been reported that the film is budgeted at Rs 165 crore.

Aishwarya Rai in a still from Endhiran. Photo Credit: Shankar
Rajnikant will play a scientist who creates a robot in his own likeness for his physically challenged child to play with. However, things go awry and the robot begins to kill people forcing the scientist to terminate his state-of-the-art invention.

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been critically appreciated for her roles in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan and Raavanan.

The audience feedback in Chennai on her performance is that she is mesmerising and has come out with an award-winning performance. According to many, her on-screen chemistry with Vikram in the Tamil version crackled. Now that the hype and hoopla surrounding the release of Raavan is over, everybody is eagerly looking forward to her next release in Tamil, Endhiran (Robot), with Superstar Rajinikanth.

Director Shankar wrote in his blog, “Well… except one song, the shooting of the whole film (Endhiran) is complete. The full edited film has been given to A R Rahman for background score and Resul Pookutty for the sound effects. Just waiting to shoot the last song, the computer graphics work of the climax and some important scenes to be completed.”

By Jilawatan

Aishwarya Rai had stepped into filmdom with Tamil film Iruvar. She soon moved on to become one of the biggest names in Bollywood and with number projects in her kitty she never managed to accept all the South Indian offers that came her way.

However she considers this year special to her as she has got two Tamil releases. “After Iruvar I was offered a lot of South films with a lot of actors including Vikram sir. But my schedule didn’t allow me to do any South film apart from Jeans and Kandu Kondein,” she says. “But this year I am doing two films – Raavan and Endhiran (Robot),” she add.

Interestingly both the films are bilingual. While Raavan released this week, Shankar directed Endhiran is aimed towards the later part of the year. 2010 surely is a good year for Ash!

By Jilawatan

There might be Beera hogging the limelight with his cranky behaviour and outlandish expressions, and then there might be the cool-andsuave Dev but Ragini brings the much-needed grace to the proceedings on screen. Aishwarya Rai, widely described as India’s most beautiful woman, got to play Ragini not once, but twice, in Mani Ratnam’s double bonanza!

FROM IRUVAR TO RAAVANAN

One of the reasons that I came into cinema was because of Mani Ratnam. And when I got an opportunity to act in his film for my debut, I grabbed it. I still remember the first Tamil word I uttered on screen — Pesanum…. I guess I haven’t stopped talking since then!

THE MANI MAGIC

People around the world love his cinema and style of filmmaking. As actors and creative people, we cherish the opportunities of working with such a great filmmaker. I used to call him Mani sir when I started but by the time we did Guru, he told me to call him just Mani.

By Jilawatan

Former Miss World says she became an actress only because she was offered a film with Mani Ratnam.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan desperately needs Ratnam’s magic to deliver her a hit. (SUPPLIED)
Without Mani Ratnam, Bollywood might never have known Aishwarya Rai.

Speaking to media in a global video conference on Friday night, the former Miss World, who was a top model in her teens, said she only became an actress because she was offered a film with Ratnam, one of India’s most respected directors.

“I’d been getting offers for films, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do movies. I wanted to pursue my architecture studies, but the day I knew it was possible to work with Mani Ratnam, the genius that he is, I decided movies were the way forward,” she told media gathered from India, the United States and the UAE.

By Jilawatan

Endhiran lead actor Rajinikanth recently confirmed that ‘Endhiran’ will be an August release.

It was reported that the film was almost complete except for one song. But the song is also shot now.

‘Endhiran’ has six songs and one song was crooned by A R Rahman in the lines of “Athiradi” song in ‘Sivaji’. This song was the last one to be shot. Shankar wanted a massive hotel lobby to shoot the song and after trying a number of star hotels in the city he finally settled for a hotel still under construction near Anna Arivalayan in Teynampet. Shankar modified the hotel to his needs and started shooting. Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai participated.

By Jilawatan

If all goes well, director Shankar will wrap up the shooting of his Rajinikanth-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer Endhiran by July.

Shankar recently shot a song for his film in a yet-to-open star hotel in Chennai. A source close to the films unit said, Last week, Aishwarya flew down from Mumbai to shoot for a birthday party song.Shankar was looking for a lavish banquet hall where he could can the sequence. But, he wasn’t pleased with any of the halls. He finally chose a star hotel that is yet to be commissioned and asked his art director Sabu Cyril to decorate the interiors lavishly. The song has come out extremely well.

We hear that Shankar will wrap up the shoot of this much-awaited film after canning just one more song, which, in all probability, will be shot in a studio set in Chennai in July as soon as he gets dates from Ash.

By Jilawatan

Abhishek Bachchan and wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are perhaps the busiest couples in bollywood these days. The couple has been so busy with their schedules that they have had no time to be in Mumbai, for the past few months.
However, after having flown from Cannes to Chennai, to complete some portions of the Tamil Film ‘Endhiran’, or ‘Robot’, the Bachchan daughter in law is back in Mumbai, albeit for a few days.

The sad news is that Ash will not be able to attend he IIFA celebrations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, due to her prior commitments. Reportedly, the actor is going to fly to Paris, in the first week of June, to promote the ‘Longines’, which is an International watch Brand, of which she is the Brand Ambassador.
After the official promos, she will reportedly be attending the French Open.
Abhishek Bachchan, will also not be able to attend the IIFA celebrations, due to his shooting schedule of director Abhinay Deo’s flick ‘Game’. The actor is to go to Istanbul for the next round of shooting for the flick.

By Jilawatan

Amitabh Bachchan is surely the most lovable father in law that any girl could possibly have, under the Sun.
This was proved very recently, when the Bachchan Bahu, Aishwarya, was traveling to the storm affected areas in the South of India.
It so happened, that Ash had to travel to the South straight from the French Riviera Festival, as she had to reach her shooting venue for the Tamil film ‘Endhiran’, which she is doing opposite the Tamil superstar Rajnikanth.