By Jilawatan

And Danny Boyle wasn’t just trying to make a statement. A different Ash in each of her ventures — that’s what Aishwarya Rai Bachchan aims for, even

if it’s a minuscule role in a Hollywood film.

Your latest Hollywood outing sees you in an avatar which is far from your leading lady image…
It’s not about whether I’m the leading lady in a project or who my co-star is. For me, the film-maker, script and role are deciding factors. And I have always tried to defy the obvious and test myriad characters. That’s why there’s an Iruvar, Josh, Khakee, Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, Devdas, Raincoat, Chokher Bali and Shabd to name a few. As they have been saying in the West, ‘She is not house-hunting in Hollywood’. In fact, I’ve never done that. I’ve not gone to them looking for work.

By Jilawatan

Yes, Slumdog Millionaire bridged the gap between East and West, and back home Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is doing the same thing, what with her Pink Panther stint. Well, the film that’s set to release soon is quite the topic of convo these days, and people are dying to know if Ash has a prominent role in it, or is it really a blink-and miss kinda thing.

But Ash isn’t a worried woman. As tongues wag, she’s busy playing Sita in Kolkata for Mani Ratnam ’s Raavana. “Ash does not play a miniscule role in the motion picture as assumed by many.She plays a criminology expert and has done her job quite well,” we’re told. Now, as to who leaked out this little bit of info, well, we’ll just leave that for the experts to find out.

By Jilawatan

“Slumdog Millionaire” took home eight Oscars on Sunday night, a surprising achievement for a film once thought to be straight-to-DVD fodder. The colorful story, which mixes the gritty life of Mumbai’s poor with the shiny aspirations of the new India, features no stars recognizable to Western audiences, but it may have made one of its native country.

So, is it time for Bollywood — as India’s huge Mumbai-based film industry is called — to come to America?

“International cinema comes in cycles in the United States,” said Frank Lovece, a film critic with Film Journal International. “Now, it’s Bollywood’s time.”

But “Slumdog” is a far cry from the lavish movie musicals made by Bollywood, which releases nearly 1,000 films annually. And it’s not authentically Indian — it was directed by Briton Danny Boyle, and the leading actor, Dev Patel, was born and raised in England.