He has been the man in shining armour for the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Abbie Cornish and Amanda Seyfried but guess who makes Ryan Phillippe’s heart miss a beat – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

“Aishwarya Rai looks beautiful in every film she does, albeit Indian or American,” says the 36-year-old.

His Bollywood knowledge doesn’t douse here. “I have heard of Irrfan Khan and Hrithik Roshan too. Irrfan has been working in Hollywood films since a while now, and Hrithik Roshan is hugely popular amongst the Indians living here.”

“Bollywood has its own brand of cinema which appeals to a billion people locally and millions of more people outside of the country. There is a humungous population that watches and enjoys Bollywood films, even outside of India. They make entertaining films, which not only run high on emotion, but spread a message as well,” says the actor, who says he “wouldn’t mind doing a dance move or two to lap up a Bollywood film.

“I am sure it would be fun to work in one,” he says.

So has he seen any Bollywood potboilers?

“I have watched a couple of movies but I cannot quite recollect their names. All that I can say is that Bollywood films are entertaining to watch, the drama, the songs, etc, lend the film a larger-than-life look,” he says.

Ask if he has any plans to ever visit India for work or for leisure, he says, “Not as of now, but I have heard a lot of good things about the country and I plan to visit it very soon.”

Noteworthy is that Phillippe is also upbeat about Indian delicacies. “I have had Chicken Tikka Masala, once at a restaurant, and I found it pretty sumptuous. Spicy, yet sumptuous,” he says.

Talking about The Lincoln Lawyer, Phillippe co-stars Matthew McConaughey in a match of manipulation in which both men’s lives hang in the balance. Here, his character Louis Roulet hires McConaughey’s bottom-feeding defense attorney, Mick Haller, when he’s accused of attempted murder.

Professing his innocence, it soon becomes clear, however, that Roulet’s story just doesn’t add up. And that the man himself may possess even darker secrets which McConaughey’s streetwise Haller will ultimately confront – both in the courthouse and on the streets of Los Angeles.

“It is a different from the run-of-the-mill stuff. The performance that all the actors working in the film have given are stupendous and certainly worth a watch,” he says.

Throwing light on his character, Phillippe, says, “Louis Roulet is a rich Beverly Hills playboy from a wealthy real estate family. He’s grown up well educated, a silver spoon type of upbringing. And he’s under the false belief that he can get away with murder, essentially. That the rules don’t apply to him.”

Getting the film wasn’t easy for the actor. “I read the script and I loved it. But because it’s such a complicated character, it was important to the producers, and understandably so, that they had actors read for it. So I literally auditioned and chased after this part,” he reveals.

“I think they saw something like 200 guys. But I just really wanted it. It was unlike anything I’d had an opportunity to do in my career. Also, it’s kind of fun to play the bad guy for a change (laughs)… The rules that exist when you’re the protagonist and you’re the guy that the audience has to relate to, or connect to, they’re thrown out the window when you get to be a character like this. There’s a lot of license and freedom that comes with it,” he adds.

So was that part of the attraction? “Yes. But it always really comes down to the screenplay and filmmaker. This is the kind of movie I like to see as an audience member. That’s pretty much the basis for the choices I make. I think maybe the reason why I haven’t been in romantic comedies or enormously commercial movies is because that’s not my area of interest. And then when you get an ensemble like this, it’s truly exciting. You show up every day and there’s another great actor that’s in the film or that you’re going to be working with. I love that. I love being in great ensembles,” he says.

Phillippe goes gaga over the script of the crime drama.“The scripts that we read as actors are not nearly as satisfying as this one ultimately was. When I did Crash years ago…I mean, the thing I’m proudest about Crash is that cast. And everyone who worked on that film, from Sandra Bullock to Don Cheadle, we all worked at scale. You know, for no money. And people still wanted to do it because it was original and it had elements that you don’t see in film after film. Actors are looking for more substance and a lot of times you’re not getting it with the scripts you read. Even to get a guy like Bryan Cranston, who’s won the Best Actor Emmy in the last two years, to get him to come in and play a relatively small part in this film, it’s a testament to the material,” he says.

Ask about future projects and Phillippe has a lot on his plate at the moment.

“The next film I have coming out is called The Bang Bang Club, about combat photographers at the end of apartheid in South Africa. I also sold a series recently to Showtime that I’m the creator and executive producer on, Heavy and Rolling, about a town car driver in Manhattan, sort of a dark comedy,” he says.

“I did a film with Bruce Willis this winter, The Setup. And I’m about to direct my first short film… I mean, I think I’m kind of moving into a slightly more behind the scenes phase now. Having done this for almost twenty years – I’ve worked with Altman, Eastwood and Ridley Scott – I want to take some of that experience and create a little more, rather than just being part of someone else’s project,” he adds.

International Indian Film Academy or as it s better known as IIFA is out with its nominations list and the people who are on the list is really excited. Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are competing against each other in the Best Actress category as Katrina got nominated for Rajneeti and Aishwarya for Guzaarish. Vidya Balan has also been nominated for her out of beat role in Ishqiya. Other actress who will be competing for best actress award at IIFA and Band Baja Baarat girl Anushka Sharma and Kareena Kapoor.

IIFA is a very prestigious award and to get a nomination in this is in itself a great feat. The films that have got the highest nominations so far is Once Upon a Time In Mumbai which has got 12 nominations closely followed by Dabangg which has got 11 nominations.

The best actor nominations include Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and RAnbir KApoor. It would be a tough job for the jury members this time as they would be faced with another addition to the list Hrithik Roshan who gave a very good performance in Guzaarish.

This time even Imran Hashmi has got two nominations for his supporting roles in two films and Once Upon a Time in Mumbai got a nomination for the best director as well. If we talk of music then for best music director Salim-Suleman for ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’, Vishal-Shekhar for ‘I Hate Luv Storys’, Vishal Bhardwaj for ‘Ishqiya’ and Shankar Ehsaan Loy for ‘My Name is Khan’ bagged the nominations. These are some of the few nominations for the coming IIFA award.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who is 37 is in big dilemma. She is planning for motherhood but before she retires from film and concentrates on her new journey, she wants to deliver a mind-blowing and astounding performance. Currently, she has two good projects and she has to make a choice between these two projects. One is Vishal Bharadwaj’s film opposite Hrithik Roshan and the second option is Madhur Bhandarkar’s flick ‘Heroine’.

Aishwarya has heard the narration of Madhur’s ‘Heroine’ and she liked the script but not yet signed the dotted lines. The actress had four releases in 2010 but three of them is rated below average and the Tamil version of ‘Robot’ was a blockbuster. So before she takes a break from film, Ash wants to surprise her audiences with a scintillating act.

Ash and Abhi desperately wants a baby and both are giving a serious thought to extend their family.

The man who swept the best actor award in many of the recent award events is nominated in Golden Kela Worst actor category. Shahrukh Khan’s acting in My Name Is Khan has earned him a worst actor nomination. Hrithik Roshan joins him in the league with his acting in Guzaarish. Aishwarya Rai is nominated for Golden Kela worst actress for her film Raavan.

Golden Kela Awards, organized by Random magazine, is a spin-off of Hollywood’s Razzies to honour the worst in Bollywood every year. The award, which is based on public poll, is in its third year. Last year Abhishek Bachchan was given the award for worst accent, and the actor was present at the award ceremony to accept the Dara Singh Award for Worst Accent for his attempt to speak in an American accent in Delhi 6.

Salman Khan’s blockbuster Dabangg has not been nominated under any category.

The award ceremony will be held on March 2 and will be hosted by Cyrus Broacha.

Check out the list of Golden Kela Awards for the worst performance of the year 2010.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was not feeling well, but she still managed to put on a performance at this year’s Zee Cine Awards.
The dancing queen showed off moves from movies like Endhiran, the Robot and Action Replayy, and the crowd went wild more than once!

It’s easy to see that Ash is not in top shape, but her fellow B-town colleagues, including Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar and Deepika Padukone encourage her from the sidelines.
We’re sure they’ve been in the same situation several times and knows how she feels. Check out Ash’s moves and let us know what you think; hot or not?

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai had an eventful 2010 which saw four of her films getting a release. Though Aishwarya didn’t get the kind of box office response that she deserved, she starred in 3 magnum opuses if money is anything to go by.
For instance, she starred in the film ‘Robot’ or ‘Endhiran’ that was the most expensive film made in India. Made at a cost of over Rs 150 crore it paired Aishwarya up with the South Indian Demi-God Rajinikanth. And this film did a staggering business at box office and at some parts (like Chennai) the theatre owners had to run early morning (3 am) shows to meet the sky-high demand. The only glitch is that Aishwarya was basically a candy floss in that film which was basically a Rajinikanth bonanza.
Apart from ‘Robot’, Aishwarya Rai starred in another expensive film in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan.’ ‘Raavan’ was the 2nd most expensive film of the year and was inspired from the Hindu epic ‘Ramayan.’ However, despite all the hype and hoopla, this ‘Raavan’ was beheaded by critics and audience.
Aishwarya also starred in the 3rd most expensive film of 2010 in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Guzaarish.’ Made at a budget of over Rs 50 crore, this film starring Hrithik Roshan and Ash was heavily appreciated by the critics. The film, indeed, was poetically beautiful with a poignant storyline and masterly cinematography. But unfortunately, ‘Guzaarish’ was a dud at the box office.

Certainly! If you boast of a Miss World crown, spate of award winning Indian films and acknowledgment at international level. But when the event sees all A-listers in attendance, throwing your weight can infuriate all and sundry.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is the global face of India, couldn’t keep in check the curt side of her at a recently held award function in Singapore. Apart from keeping the organisers on their toes all the time, Aishwarya disrupted the rehearsals of other celebrities by choosing to rehearse her act at her own sweet time without caring if it would clash with others. “Despite repeated requests, Ash refused to come on stage and remained backstage. She made it clear that if she is receiving an award, it has to be handed over by the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan.

We were forced to make the last minute changes to please the lady. She would come for rehearsals at her own sweet time and many a times, it would clash with others who were rehearsing too. Another incident, when we realised the might and the stubborn side of Aishwarya, was when she flatly refused to jump over the trampoline kept on the stage. Like a true sport, Vidya Balan draped in a sari, granted our request of jumping over the trampoline with joy after bagging our award but Aishwarya refused to adhere. She told us that she is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and need not be told what to do?

We were left with no choice than to keep quiet about the matter. Nevertheless, her performance won accolades from everyone and was certainly the show-stopper. But we still wonder if the lady got up from the wrong side of the bed as she gave us panic attacks at regular intervals,” reveals a source. Well, big stars are expected to have bigger tantrums.

Actress Aishwarya Rai walked away with the special jury award for her performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish at the Ponds Gold Radiance Zee Cine Awards 2011 held in Singapore.

Aishwarya was honoured on Friday as the best actress (female) jury choice for her outstanding performance in the sensitive and challenging role of Sofia in Guzaarish that also starred Hrithik Roshan as a paraplegic patient.

The actress also performed at the event on hit numbers from Raavan, Action Replayy and Robot.

The award comes right after winning a gong for cinematic excellence for her work for the same film at the recently held Apsara Awards.

Now that the year 2010 is over, we can sit back and look at some of the memorable and not-so-memorable flicks that came and went away, some spellbinding us on the way while others failing to live upto our expectations. Two of the most hyped films of the year that flopped at the box office starred Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. Have a look:

1. Hrithik Roshan: Hrithik Roshan starrer film ‘Kites’ was undoubtedly the most hyped film of the year. Directed by Anurag Basu, it starred the Mexican bombshell Barbara Mori and spawned whispers of a secret romance between Hrithik and the foreign lass. Made with a budget crossing Rs 50 crore, it was a film that was hugely awaited but the sluggish pace of the film, dearth of a good storyline and linguistic barrier dug out a grave for Kites.
2. Aishwarya Rai: Aishwarya Rai starrer film ‘Raavan’ was another flick that had been in the news ever since its making. Besides, it brought the trio of Aishwarya, hubby Abhishek and director Mani Ratnam after their hit ‘Guru’ and expectations were sky high. But alas! Abhishek failed to impress the critics with his portrayal of the ten headed Beera (Raavan) and the daggers were out leading to Raavan’s beheading.

Interestingly, Hrithik and Aishwarya starred together in a later film named ‘Guzaarish’ and that was another flop. But ironically, it was a good film and was hailed by most critics

In an online survey, actor Aishwarya Rai was voted as the Best Actress of 2010 for her performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish.

Aishwarya plays Hrithik Roshan’s nurse in the film. Out of 10,867 votes cast, Ash got 77% of the votes, more than the likes of Kajol (My Name
is Khan), Katrina Kaif (Raajneeti) and Vidya Balan (Ishqiya).

Kajol was the runners up with 17 per cent votes while Katrina Kaif bagged 3 per cent of the total votes. Vidya Balan, too, got 3 per cent.