Moti Sagar and his team at Sagar Arts are in the process of finding their Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Salman Khan for the ‘televised’ version of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, that was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali in 2007. The show is as yet untitled but the casting has started. The show for Colors will have an ensemble cast.

Moti Sagar says, “I wouldn’t call it a frame-by-frame remake. My show revolves around a group of folk singers in the interiors of Gujarat, the Darbaris. The show is a family drama-cum-love story between three leading characters.”

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’s storyline also revolved around three characters, Vanraj (Ajay), Nandini (Aishwarya) and Sameer (Salman Khan). Sameer and Nandini fall in love but the latter is married off to Vanraj who on learning that she loves another, tries to reunite her with her Indo-Italian singer.

Will the serial follow a similar storyline? “Movies have definite timelines and storylines. But in a soap, we have lots of tracks that can develop or be edited depending on the audience response. Most family dramas and love stories are pretty similar but their treatment makes them different. Music, Gujarat and the love triangle are the only common links between Bhansaliji and our work,” argues Sagar.
It’s rumoured that Sagar Arts plans to hire many artistes from Bhansali’s hit movie for the show. “You’ll have to wait and watch to see how many actors are in common. I don’t think there will be any.”

The show will be shot in Gujarat next month and then shift to a location in or around Mumbai. The actors haven’t been finalised yet. Sagar says the show is expected to go on air in the next two months.

“The slot and the title will be decided by the team at Colors,” he adds. “We’ve started the pre-production work and should be ready to roll by next month.”

Actress Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan has been under the weather since the past few days. Ash apparently has been down with viral fever and flu, but despite her ill-health, the actress has been working towards keeping her commitments. According to a source, Ash was advised two to three weeks of bed rest to recuperate completely.

“The fever, combined with exhaustion due to her hectic work schedule, has taken a toll on her health. But she just refused to back out of her pending work commitments,” revealed the source. So, inspite of running a high fever, Ash shot for a magazine cover with hubby Abhishek Bachchan. “Aishwarya really put up a brave front during the shoot. Having Abhishek by her side helped her feel much better. Abhi, on his part, tended to Ash throughout as a dutiful husband,” confirmed another source.

The actress, later in the day, even attended an awards function where she won an award for cinematic excellence for her performance in Guzaarish. An overwhelmed Ash dedicated the award to all the “Ethans and Sofias who fight a battle daily and smilingly.”

She added, “It’s touching to receive this honour.” She even thanked film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for making her such an important part of his cinematic journey. “From Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to Devdas and now Guzaarish, I thank Sanjay for believing in me as an actress,” she added. Despite her ill-health, the actress also flew to Singapore where she is expected to perform at the Zee Cine Awards tonight.

Ex-flames Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan usually try their best to avoid each other, however, at times best efforts goes up in smoke. That’s exactly what happened recently at the 17th Annual Star Screen Awards, when Aishwarya went into the lounge area (hang-out place for celebrity performers) and had to hurriedly come out as her ex Salman was also chilling out there.

However, even after spotting Salman, Ash, well-known for maintaining her composure at all times, quickly got over the initially shock of finding Salman at the lounge and moved out as soon as possible to avoid potentially awkward situation.

Ash and Salman had started dating after meeting on the sets of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.’ For two years (1999-2000) everything went well, however, in 2002, the IT couple of Bollywood broke up in midst of lots of controversy and drama.

What exactly transpired at award function
Reportedly, Aishwarya ended up reaching backstage earlier and was waiting for her name to be called for the performance, when she suddenly decided to wait in the lounge.

On her way to lounge, she met Vidya Balan and they exchanged pleasantries for a while.

“After her conversation Ash went inside, glanced around and was seen walking out of the room swiftly. Ash stood quietly outside and refused to budge till her performance was announced,” said an eye-witness.

Apparently, sudden change in Ash’s behavior surprised many; however, everybody soon found the reason, when they spotted Salman strolling out of the lounge area.

Salman’s reaction
Bachchan clan’s bahu Ash might have felt awkward after suddenly spotting Salman, however, as per sources, Salman did not even flinch when he saw Ash moving into the lounge, igniting speculations that he truly has moved on.

“Salman has moved on and has no issues about bumping into anyone anywhere. He was relaxing, when he spotted Ash, he appeared unmoved and continued with his conversation,” revealed an eye-witness.

It seems like only Aishwarya needs to work on her ex-related issues as avoiding someone, who is part of the industry is a tough thing to do.

This Friday will see the return of one of Bollywood fan’s favorite jodis when Guzaarish, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan opens in theaters. The early buzz is that the duo has created magic on screen in their roles of Ethan and Sofia in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed film. We thought in honor of the film’s release we would take a look at some of the best scenes between the reel couple and then because we wanted to, and knew you, our dear readers, would enjoy it, we also decided to list some of the highlights from their separate films.

Hrithik and Aishwarya’s Magical Jodi

Before Guzaarish, the Aishwarya and Hrithik jodi has made jadoo on screen in two films, and they could not be any more polar opposite. First there was Dhoom 2 in 2006, Hrithik and Aishwarya were in their modern avatars as Mr. A and ‘are you like checkin me out’ Sunheri. Though there were many great moments between the two in the action film, we thought of two we just had to mention. Audiences could not wait to see the gorgeous duo dancing together and they lit the screen on fire in the ‘Dil Laga Na’ number. Doing one of the things they both do best, both Hrithik and Aishwarya looked hot and completely cool at the same time. Then there is the infamous KISS! You have the handsome Hrithik and the beautiful Aishwarya in a scene filled with tension and it ends in a very hot kiss. Of course, being Bollywood, there was an uproar. It was rumored that the Bachchan family objected to the kiss, there was rumbling among fans and even a court case, but in the end, it is the kiss that is one of the best and most remembered scenes from the hit film.

The actor and actress went in a completely opposite direction for their second film together when they starred in the period epic Jodhaa Akbar. We had a hard time picking moments from the film because every scene with the two is done brilliantly, but here are three scenes that we feel really define their jodi in this film. One of the first is when Akbar sees Jodhaa for the first time. She is praying, the song ‘Mann Mohanaa’ is playing… he walks around, sees her face and is stunned. Then there is the scene after the wedding, they are in the bedroom and she lowers the curtain between them, the look on his and her face is priceless. The scene at the gate when he sends her away in his jealousy, both acted the feelings of betrayal wonderfully. Oh wait, it must be four scenes because, we have to mention the sword-fighting scene as well, so much passion, so much desire and not a word spoken.

Yes, we could go on and on and on, but now we will go on to some of the highlights that they have brought separately to the silver screen.

Aishwarya’s Best

One of Aishwarya’s best performances is in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. She is terrific as Nandini and her portrayal of the path from spoiled lovesick girl to mature woman who loves her husband is wonderful. In a movie filled with great moments two of the best are the last scenes of the film, one with Salman and one with Ajay. Of course while talking of HDDCS, we must mention ‘Nimbooda’. Combine Aishwarya’s great skill as a dancer and the art of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films and you have a dance sequence full of beauty.

It was and still is considered one of the best item numbers ever. We are talking about the sultry Aish in ‘Kajra Re’ from Bunty Aur Babli. ‘Hai Hai’, as Big B said!

One of Aishwarya’s more unusual films is Leena Yadav’s Shabd. Most people first of all think about her bed scene ‘Chahaton Ka Silsila’ with a soft and very tender Sanjay Dutt – but the scene which leaves you really speechless is in the end when Sanjay, torn by schizophrenia, is losing his mind and Aishwarya desperately tries to convince him that nothing has happened, that he didn’t kill anyone and that she loves him and no one else. Goosebumps!

More recently Aishwarya was seen in Mani Ratman’s Raavan. She was great in the song ‘Khili Re’, but it was her eyes that did the acting in this film. Our reviewer said, “In a nuanced, quite brilliant performance, Aishwarya delivers perhaps her finest work to date and Raavan is her film.”

Devdas began her work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and her performance as Paro is probably what really made people know Aish as an Actress with a capital A. She had a lot to live up too, a classic novel, and a star like Shah Rukh Khan and she shined. There are so many great scenes of hers in the film, but the two we want to highlight are in the song ‘Hamesha Tumko Chaha’, she literally spoke with her eyes, beautiful. Of course, you can’t write about Aish and Devdas and not talk about the ‘Dola Re Dola’ dance with Madhuri Dixit. Two of the best dancers in Bollywood, dancing together, in gorgeous costumes to a great song… need I say more?

Have to sneak in one more Jodhaa Akbar moment; there is the scene were she watches from behind a curtain as he practices with his sword, no shirt. So much was said in that scene with her eyes… and we quite agreed with everything she said though she spoke not a word.

For Guru, it was really impossible for us to pick one scene because she was so good. So, we will just say watch Guru!

Hrithik’s Best

His debut performance in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai created such a huge sensation that has not been seen since. He recently said that at the first screening, on the way in, a few people said, ‘oh you are the boy in the movie’, but then three hours later I could not leave the theater because of the mob of fans wanting to get close to me. Besides looking so fine and acting so well, it was his dancing that got the fans swooning. Have a look at the scene with Ameesha Patel, a club and Hrithik’s moves in ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ and you can see why he needed a police escort.

When talking about Hrithik’s best performances or scenes we have to talk about Koi Mil Gaya. I remember watching the film and it wasn’t until he was walking down the street in the village that all of a sudden I realised that Rohit was the hunky Hrithik Roshan. He got so inside the character as the child like Rohit that I did not even recognize him. I actually fast-forwarded to the credits to make sure I was right. That tour de force performance is out of this world (pun intended).

Another film that showed Hrithik’s talent of becoming so lost in a character you really don’t see him is Lakshya. His change between the lazy boy to the military man is phenomenal. The scene where he points to the mountain peak, his lakshya, was full of power in all its quietness. We also have to mention the slightly odd but totally cool choreography for ‘Main Aisa Kyun Hoon’ in Lakshya, this sequence firmly established Hrithik as one of the best dancers in any wood.

An unforgettable scene is Hrithik’s showdown with Sanjay Dutt at the end of Mission Kashmir – the merciless fight between them and then the crucial moment when Hrithik realizes that his father (Sanjay) had been right and he had been deceived and misled by the terrorists. Intense and fraught with tension.

Though not as popular a film, there is a scene in Yaadein that showed off Hrithik’s talent as an actor. She…Kareena… just broke his heart and his monologue outside, the way he says ‘theek hai’ and his hand shaking was brill, it broke the audiences heart too to watch him. I also have to mention the dance sequence in the rain, which comes in the middle of the song ‘Aye Dil Dil Ki Duniya’. It is only 44 seconds, but it is a full of feeling, pain and fabulous choreography and is one of my favorite Hrithik dance sequences, ever.

We mentioned Dhoom 2 before but we have to single out Hrithik’s performance in the film. Nobody could play a thief as cool as Hrithik. He was perfect in every caper and every second playing Mr. A, even dressed as the Queen!

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is full of great Hrithik-ness but the scene when he enters SRK’s house in London after so many years being apart – the look, the wiping of the tear…VAH!

This was really fun to write and we hope you enjoyed reading it as well! It will be interesting to see if any of the scenes be it together or separate from Guzaarish will be included on a list like this in the future! From the promos we have a feeling it will. Guzaarish opens on November 19th!

Aishwarya Rai, who once again teams up with Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Guzaarish, says they share a strange connection. The beautiful actress also says that the sensitive film helped the whole team reconnect with the goodness inside them.

“We are so strangely connected that we can communicate so much in silence. You can’t bring down the experience of working with Sanjay in one word, sentence or a paragraph. Sanjay can’t be contained in a word. We all say he is a genius, multi-faceted, but actually he is a real artiste. He sings, he breaks into dance, he loves music and he is very intense,” Aishwarya told IANS in an interview.

Guzaarish being her third film with Bhansali after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas(2002), the actress reveals that she has always felt being an important character in his films and not just the lead heroine.

“In his film, everyone is a character integral to his narrative and it’s a pleasure working with him. You always feel that you are in a team. I experienced that in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, I experienced that in Devdas, I experienced that in Guzaarish,” said Aishwarya, who plays a nurse to actor Hrithik Roshan’s character of a paraplegic in Guzaarish.

The actress refrains from saying that intense roles are harder than playing the typical Bollywood heroine. Citing her last two films with Hrithik – Dhoom2 (2006) and Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Aishwarya says her roles were equally intricate to the genres of both the films.

“I have done a lot of intense films, lesser comedy films, and lesser commercially typical heroine films and yet I say all could be equally easier or tough. When you go without make-up, wear a sari, suddenly that role becomes more intense and just because you put make-up, wear dresses and do hair styles the role becomes frivolous…I think it’s unfair to compartmentalise creativity like that. How you pose for the camera is also a craft.

“In Dhoom we had to look smashing in every frame, the character’s incidental in terms of acting nuances, but everything had to look perfect. That’s also a method of the craft.

“In Jodhaa Akbar we were doing a history together, but in every point while we were working with the detailing and authenticity with a director like Ashutosh Gowariker, we brought that in. It always played in our mind that it shouldn’t look that today’s kids are donning historical costumes. That needed a certain kind of craft,” Aishwarya explained.

In Guzaarish, Hrithik plays a paraplegic and “yes, I am playing a caretaker nurse, but within that we had to bring in the story that Sanjay really wants to tell and at the same time we have to be honest to our character in terms of expressing our inter-personal relations,” Aishwarya said.

Asked if through the journey of making the film, she had subtly evolved as a better human being, she said: “The whole team felt that. Everyone has goodness in him or her. But everyone has experiences which help you connect or reconnect with the goodness in you or the goodness you wish to share. This film has been a very positive film for the whole team because of the intensity of the genre and the sensitivity of its nature.”

Rajnikanth starrer Endhiran (Robot or Robo) has rammed into the theatres with an explosive, box office shattering punch and has gone on to rewrite history. From what one hears about the Chennai crowd going berserk over Rajnikanth posters, the film, surely, has sort of stamped its undisputed dominance on the silver screen.
Despite the lavishness of the costumes, the opulence of the sets and the grandeur of the large-scaled technology, one feels that Aishwarya Rai merely wasted away her talent for this movie which had only Rajnikanth written all over it.
It’s true that the monumental success of Endhiran marks another megahit in Aishwarya’s CV but it can’t be denied that at a phase when Aish should do more women-centric roles, the portrayal of Sana in this film will not bring any laurels or critical acclaim for her.
It may be argued that the first-time teaming up of Rajni and Aish is a big welcome from the cine goers, still Ash had nothing more to do here than to change attires in every 20 seconds and look utterly gorgeous.

In the past, we have seen her in meatier roles as in ‘Provoked’ or even a ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ but perhaps this eye-candy of a role in Endhiran wouldn’t be remembered for long; neither would it add to her glittering cap which is laden with some brightly embellished jewels.

As the star of Endhiran, India’s most expensive movie and her latest, Aishwarya Rai talks to Kevin Maher about bridging the cultural gap between Bollywood and Hollywood, and how her high-profile celebrity marriage is no publicity stunt.

Like some glittering celestial orb, frozen in the firmament, Aishwarya Rai is caught between the powerful pull of two worlds. In one, she is the Bollywood Queen, daughter of a nation, a former Miss World turned movie icon and now married to India’s golden son, Abhishek Bachchan. When she kisses on screen she ignites a national controversy (more on that later). And her every move is tracked by a ravenous and sometimes savage media (fake reports of her death in a car crash caused countrywide consternation in 2006).

In the other world, she is the glamorous crossover star, utterly at home on the covers of western magazines such as Time, GQ and Rolling Stone. She is the spokeswoman for L’Oréal cosmetics, the toast of the Cannes Film Festival and one of the “100 Most Influential People In the World” (again, Time). She is someone who is as comfortable on the sofa opposite David Letterman (“B from Bombay, ’ollywood from Hollywood,” she drawled, in 2007, as Letterman played dumb about Indian cinema) as she is fielding compliments from her peers in Hollywood – Julia Roberts famously called her, “the most beautiful woman on the planet”.

And yet the inherent pressure of being Aishwarya Rai is that these two worlds simply do not mix. They tug the star from different directions and they can often leave the woman herself in the middle, somehow stranded.

Not that you can tell, initially, from a close encounter with Rai. Here in a swish, central London hotel suite her only crisis seems to be that she hasn’t eaten breakfast and it’s already three in the afternoon.

The 36-year-old megastar, dressed in a soft salmon-pink suit that wildly highlights the jade green of her huge saucer eyes, is forthright in conversation. Yet she is occasionally prone to drift into polite prolixity when any subject threatens to become difficult or to fall from the dreamy Rai-Bachchan hymn sheet. Of her seemingly idyllic relationship with Bachchan, for instance, she will consistently reaffirm: “We’re just a couple. We’re just a guy and a girl who love each other and who are fortunate to have the blessings of our families. So it’s just a wonderful happy relationship.”

The Rai story at the moment, of course, is all about Endhiran, released next week. The most expensive Bollywood movie ever made, costing R150 crore (almost Dh132 million), the film has Rai playing Sana, the one woman in India who manages to awaken passionate emotions in a previous unfeeling humanoid robot called Chitthi (played, under a layer of heavy make-up, by 60-year-old superstar Rajnikanth). The film is littered with high-octane action sequences that would seem quite at home in a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster, while the set-piece special effects sequences have been supervised by the same team that handled Jurassic Park and Terminator 2. It is, in some ways, the emblematic modern movie project for Rai, and typically hints at her crossover status and the long-held idea that she represents a bridge between the two industries.

And so, naturally, our conversation inevitably drifts towards the subject of Hollywood. Here Rai announces that she has a long list of high-profile Tinseltown offers that she has rejected. “I never like mentioning them, because you get ridiculously slotted as a name dropper,” she says, sighing. “But yes, Brett Ratner [director of X-Men 3] had asked me to do Rush Hour, twice over. And then with [the Brad Pitt action epic] Troy, there was a huge possibility that I would play Helen. And Michael Douglas, too, he came to India and did a press conference where he admitted that he had brought a script my way. And Will Smith was generous enough to be persistent twice over, with Hancock and Seven Pounds. But they all understood the fact that it wasn’t some attitude I had about working overseas that stopped me doing those films.”

Well then, what did? For while she was happily turning down all these A-list projects, Rai was simultaneously popping up in half-baked western fare such as The Pink Panther 2, Mistress Of Spices and The Last Legion. It is, she says flatly, all about scheduling. “Schedules are a huge deciding factor in terms of accepting work outside India. When you’re doing well in India, you can be easily booked up for the next two years, whereas outside India you can go from film to film and can schedule in certain types of work. Yes, the opportunities have come my way, but my schedule didn’t allow for them. So I don’t think it’s fair to pass judgment on the roles in English cinema that I’ve done, simply because these are the only films I could accept because of my schedule.”

And yet, as with every good actress, there’s more to this than meets the eye. The transition from Bollywood star to fully-fledged Hollywood actress was never going to be easy, as the strict and occasionally censorious codes and the traditions of the former cinema can be huge barriers against success in the latter. Take kissing, for example. After winning Miss World in 1994, Rai made the transition to the big screen and rose to prominence in the late nineties and early 2000s playing a series of women who were trapped or wounded by forbidden love but eventually romantically reconciled, in films such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Taal and Josh.

The lavish epic of unrequited love Devdas brought her to global attention in 2003 (when it played at the Cannes Film Festival) as did the Jane Austen revamp Bride & Prejudice in 2004. And so, finally, in 2006, while playing a master thief in the Bollywood action movie Dhoom 2, she shared her first screen kiss (with co-star Hrithik Roshan). For traditional Indian audiences, used to witnessing all erotic desire sublimated into a song and dance routine, it was a step too far.

“It made headlines,” she gasps, still seemingly exasperated today. “It made front page news. It was such a huge topic that it’s hard for me to believe now. There had been kisses in Indian films before this, but with me it made front page news. In some parts of India there were people lodging cases against the production company. So, it was kind of fascinating to see such an event made out of one cinematic moment. Since then, I haven’t found myself encountering the kiss on screen and I haven’t really missed it.”

Rai explains further that the kissing had been on her mind some time before this, and that as far back as 2003, after Devdas, “there was this huge possibility of me working overseas [ie in Hollywood], and I recognised that the kiss in overseas cultures is as normal as a song in ours.”

And yet, when the moment came, and the time for her Hollywood kiss arrived, she flinched. “Apart from scheduling, there was another huge reason why I declined Troy,” she says, finally getting down to the nitty gritty. “There were explicit love-making scenes in the script and lots of kisses shared. I was like, ‘Oh my. I’m not sure.’ I just couldn’t imagine being comfortable with it.”

I ask her, thus, whether she is torn between the desire to go Hollywood and the need to stay true to her Indian roots. Her answer, at first, is verbose and so obtuse that she gets through three sentences before I realise that I don’t understand a word she’s saying. “In terms of having had the opportunity to be a first, frankly, personally that’s a wonderful feeling. My audiences the world over, my fraternity, have made it special for me. I go out there on the front line and I’ll happily take the bullets, if there be any.”

Perhaps sensing my confusion, she quickly clarifies, and says that she is simply “thankful to God for my career. So, no, there isn’t really conflict. I’m at peace with the way my creative life is. In terms of me working outside India, is there conflict? No. Is there interest? Yes. But I’m fairly realistic too. Plus, since getting married, my life has got exceedingly busy.”

Rai’s off-screen life, particularly her married one, is another universe altogether. Brangelina, Tom-Kat and Posh’n’Becks could not begin to imagine the level of celebrity insanity that surrounds Rai and Bachchan wherever they go. When the couple were married in 2007, for example, 300 policemen had to be posted around their Mumbai home just to keep the peace. And still, deranged fans made their mark, with one breaking into the wedding house disguised as a journalist, while another, a young girl claiming to be Abhishek’s former girlfriend, slit her wrists in the street outside.

Rai says that, at the time, she was protected from a lot of the madness by those around her, but still it filtered through. “People would surround me and say, ‘Take no notice of the madness.’ And I’d say, ‘Take no notice of what? I have no idea what’s going on out there. And then I discovered that we had a couple of really bizarre episodes – an imposter of Abhishek came to the house, and there was this girl slashing her wrists outside our home. But, fortunately, no serious harm done.”

Rai approaches her personal life with the same overriding enthusiasm and grateful optimism that she applies to her profession. Thus, the girl from Mangalore who was brought up in Mumbai with her mother, father (a marine engineer) and elder brother Aditya, describes a childhood that was “traditional and very close-knit” and one in which she was a “dreamer,” a lover of pop music, studious and mature before her time.

Aditya has recalled that his sister always had a gift for posing for photographs, and so, eventually, an early architecture degree was abandoned in favour of modelling (at the suggestion of one of her tutors). Commercials for Pepsi and Palmolive followed, as did the Miss India beauty pageant, and eventually Miss World. Along the way there were cracks in the Rai legend of perpetual happiness and harmony. An early relationship with Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan was tempestuous. There were rumours that he had been violent with Rai, and after their relationship ended she was quoted as saying, “At times he got physical with me, but thankfully he left no marks.”

When she gave what is one of her most intense performances, playing a battered wife in the dramatic movie Provoked, in 2006, it was seen by many as a project that came directly from personal experience.

When I ask her if she can clarify whether or not it refers to her relationship with Khan, she says: “I’ve never been inclined to give these clarifications. I intend it not to be clarified, because I don’t need to shed light on unpleasantness. But then again, when I do subjects like Provoked it’s not just about one individual, but many silent women out there who do not have the opportunity for this type of catharsis. But, at the same time, for me, all such horrors do get personal.”

Her subsequent relationship with Bachchan, as she clearly explains, and as indicated from a brief moment of flirtation I witness, is a far more balanced affair. At home, they’re in love. And in public, they are adored. “When we travel, a lot of male fans say to us, ‘Abhishek, if you don’t mind, we just want a picture with Aishwarya alone.’ And girls will come screaming and say it the other way. But that’s cool. We’re actors and we know the turf. There’s no question of feeling insecure or threatened by each other.”

I tell her that, with all this attention around the ultimate movie couple, a cynic might see their marriage as the ultimate in brand management. Unflustered and forthright, she says: “I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t strike us too, because we’re reminded of it on a daily basis by the media. But this really wasn’t some sort of alliance. It was just two people coming together. There’s nothing professional about it. We are just, personally, a couple.”

And what about the future for them? What about babies? “When it’s meant to be it will be,” she says, smiling calmly. “Babies are a gift from God, and that’s exactly the way Abhishek and I look upon the possibility. And we look forward to it as and when it’s meant to be.”

If the tug of Bollywood proves too strong, as it seems to be at the moment, and if she abandons any long-term crossover plans, how will she fare in a homegrown industry that has little to offer actresses pushing 40 and struggle with the role of the blushing bride? When will she have to resort to Botox and surgery?

“I’m glad you said ‘When’,” she chuckles. “Because that is the truth. I haven’t had it, as yet. But people now go, ‘Oooh, you’re turning 37. Don’t you want to fudge the years up?’ But, if people say I’m looking good at 36 it’s a compliment. I’m getting good work from directors, and that’s it. If there comes a time where I have to start playing the proverbial older woman, then, cool.”

We finish once more, on the conflict between the two worlds of Aishwarya Rai. Or rather, we finish with Rai reassuring me that there really is no conflict. Instead, she says, she is simply happy for what she has, and is not looking to far horizons, not envying, and not wishing it all away.

“Audiences have embraced me openly from the beginning,” she says. “If there is a so-called stardom attached to doing what I do, it has been consistent from the beginning. So, ultimately, I am very grateful to my reality as it has been, and as it still is.” And with that she smiles once more, stands up, turns on her heels, and marches off to search, at four in the afternoon, for some breakfast.

The promos of Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Guzaarish’, scheduled to be launched yesterday, have been put on hold. Buzz has it that the promo had a scene where Aishwarya was seen smoking.

It was called-off at the last moment believing that this scene can create a bad impact on the viewers.

According to a little birdie, “Agreed, Aishwarya has never been shown smoking on screen. But it’s not a sequence propagating smoking. Everyone who has seen it so far has reacted very positively to it.”

Storyline of ‘Guzaarish’
Directed by ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the story of the movie completely revolves around a married nurse (Aishwarya) and a quadriplegic, wheel chair-using patient Ethan (Hrithik Roshan).

Ethan suffers from impairment of the motor and sensory functions of his limbs. The nurse develops an intimate bond with the hero.

Reportedly, the duo will be singing for the film together. Surprisingly, the song has been composed by Bhansali himself.

Hrithik-Aish pair up for the second time
The duo, Hrithik and Aishwarya have paired up for the second time after their blockbuster flick ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ (2008).

Besides, it is the third film of Aishwarya with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali since she did ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ (1999) and ‘Devdas’ (2002).

Salman Khan couldn’t escape an awkward situation at a talent show when a girl admitted in front of the audience that she felt bad when Aishwarya Rai left him. As it was a promotional event for his next release Dabangg on TV, and the girl Shreyasi, who is a participant in the show Zee ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar’, is also his fan, Salman didn’t lose his cool.

Recently when some reporters asked Salman about his break-up with Katrina Kaif he got irritated. But during the shoot for the talent show he was nothing but a fun guy enjoying his Dabangg moments. It was Salman Khan special episode and Shreyasi sang a song from the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam which fetched her many compliments. Shreyasi even said that she would have left everything to get married to Salman.

According to sources, Salman’s reply to the comment was that this could be a ‘promotional line’ for the channel which they would be using for the TRPs. The anchor of the show salvaged the situation by changing the topic and making the atmosphere light on the sets.

The episode will be aired soon.

In the childhood of Aishwarya Rai (or as her names parents of Esh) wanted to become a doctor and to treat people. However, for the unknown reasons becoming full age the girl entered in college Rahedzha where began to study architecture and the fine arts. Soon experts of modeling business paid attention to the beautiful blue-eyed girl. End result of their negotiations began to pass the consent of Aishwarya Rai a course in school of models and participation in competition “Ms. India”.Here she has taken the second place, having conceded to only world famous Indian beauty Shushmita Shen – “Miss Universe in 1994.However, organizers of competition “India” nevertheless have decided to send Aishwarya Rai on competition “Ms. of the World” to represent India . The beauty has won hearts of judges. During her career, Rai has acted in over forty movies in Hindi, English, Tamil and Bengali, which include a number of international productions.Her debut movie was in the Tamil industry that was directed by Mani Ratnam titled Iruvar. After success in Bollywood she got a role already in Hollywood, . Now her fees for participation in a film reach 15 million dollars.She has won awards in the Film Fare for the best actress in the movies like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdass. Aishwarya Rai movies have also won Star Screen Awards International Indian film Academy, Awards Zee Cine Awards, Star dust Awards and Sansui Awards in her movie career. Rai has been the most popular face of Indian cinema globally. In 2002 has acted in film in the most successful film “Devdas”. In 2003 Aishwarya Rai was the judge of the Cannes film festival. Then Aishwarya has concluded the advertizing contract with L’Oreal DeBeers and participated in advertizing companies Coca-Cola.In 2004 she was chosen by Time magazine as one of the World’s “100 Most Influential People” appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Asia Edition in 2003. In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London’s Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. Aishwarya Rai was initially planned for a role of Rozali in a film “Twilight”, but Aish remained dissatisfied with that she looks too “adult” near to hero Kellana Latsa Emmetom. In 2009 she has acted in a film “The Pink Panther 2″ and Aishwarya Rai has consulted with the role.