Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Unfazed by the fate of her films at the box office, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan counts her blessings as she reaps the fruits of years of hard work.

This year, except “Endhiran”, “Guzaarish”, “Raavan” and “Action Replayy” haven’t done too well at the BO. How much does that bother you?

Not at all. I got a great review for each of the films that I worked in, whether it was “Endhiran”, “Raavan”, “Action Replayy” or “Guzaarish”, so for me, it’s been a terrific year. Everything that I set out to accomplish when I took on these movies, as an actor, and in terms of the response I was looking for, I have been able to. Because, as an actor with so many years of experience now, you know when you take on a subject what potential the character per se holds. No one can ever preordain the destiny of a film and I say destiny because it’s literally that. After so many years, you cannot necessarily say that a great film is a superhit or it’s the other way around. I’m happy that the response from critics and audience has been so overwhelming for each of the characters essayed, no matter how different they were from each other.

From the devoted nurse, Sophie, in “Guzaarish” to the quarrelsome Mala in “Action Replayy”, how difficult was it shifting gears?

That’s your commitment, your craft and, of course, that’s the objective that I seek as an actor. When you are starting out and you are asked what sort of an actor you want to be, you say ‘versatile’ and after years of experience if you get to do that year after year, you regard yourself blessed. I’ve been doing that for the last couple of years, but this year, as the releases were in such quick succession, it became glaringly obvious to viewers and critics. It’s been 1.5-2 years of hard work.

With so much hard work involved, how important is it for you that your film does well at the box-office?

As a team member – I say that because I’m a team player – everybody would want their films to succeed because at the end of the day, you are an industry and it is a business on which the livelihood of many people depends, not ours, by the grace of God, but for many others. We all work for the love of art, but we do recognise it is a full-fledged industry. Hence everybody seeks the obvious commercial success of every venture taken on and if that doesn’t happen, then as a team, it feels bad. But the individual fruits that one comes away with it is when it becomes much sweeter. When your effort is recognized, you come away with your reward and try harder the next time.

While working harder, do you intend to do things any differently next year to counter whatever happened this year at the BO?

I’ve never had such thoughts. It’s been a dream journey for any aspiring actor, in terms of the variety of work. I’ve worked with the best of directors not just once, but a couple of times, got to essay so many characters, break across genres and languages… it’s rare and a blessing.

Do you feel lucky that you are a part of Bollywood at this point in time?

I have carved my own journey from the beginning. The potential of different kinds of cinema will have its fruition depending on the way its business is planned. Bearing in mind the business of cinema, it’s a great time for creative explosion. But I haven’t suddenly changed my mode of work or my search for doing different kind of genres.

It’s a star shower on TV… from Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar to Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. What would it take for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to host or judge a reality show?

Time, the mindset, the inclination and a very exciting opportunity. A lot of ideas have been brought to me in the last couple of years… but so far, I haven’t had the time, and hence haven’t thought about taking on anything. Anything that I take on, I want to be able to participate completely in and commit myself the way I have on every venture.

You always say age is a state of mind and have often cited the example of your father-in-law. Does Bollywood think that way?

I would’ve talked about him even if I hadn’t been family, he’s the most glaring example that you can see. Also, I’m not judgmental, and so far, I haven’t experienced being judged. On that front, I’m fortunate to have met likeminded professionals and got to do the kind of work I wanted to.

How do you manage your time, between shoots and taking care of your family?

Manage, prioritise and commit to whatever you take on and get on with whatever next you have planned.

How was the experience of shooting in Rome with Kate Winslet and Chi Lin?

Rome is a beautiful city. It was very hot… I had never been there in summer. I was there very briefly to shoot for “Jeans”, and to go back there and experience that summer could be so hot was a revelation for all of us. Coming from India, it was embarrassing to say that we have experienced summer. But then again, when you watch the commercial, you don’t see that. We were all so committed to what we were doing, that you only see us having a great time.

Besides Longines, what else do you and Kate Winslet have in common?

Not only Kate, even Chi Lin. When we worked together, we realised that the way we work, the way we are as women, our thoughts, outlook to life, the work that we do, are very similar. We are very basic people, who have a mix of the old world and are the women of today. We all have deep-rooted values, cultural understanding and are committed to our craft – Peden Doma Bhutia

Raavan (2010)

Bollywood’s giving us quite the fill of Sanskrit literature: first, it was modern-day Mahabharata with Rajneeti, and this Friday saw the Hindu version of Darth Vader/Joker from Dark Knight/Hannibal Lector/you get the drift, Raavan [from Ramayana] being immortalized in a celluloid saga. The result? Raavan emerges as a flawed piece of storytelling; but then, there’s always beauty to be found in imperfection.

The Plot, or Ramayana meets RGV’s Jungle meets Khalnayak: If you watch this film expecting a play-by-play of the original Sanskrit epic, or even the Ramanand Sagar television saga, you’re in for a rude awakening. Raavan turns [wait for it] Robin Hood in this modern-day interpretation, which sees the antihero Beera [Abhishek Bachchan] kidnap Ragini [Aishwarya Rai], classical dancer and wife of police-officer Dev Pratap Sharma [South sensation Vikram], seeking revenge for the dishonoring of his half-sister Surpanakha. Echoing the great Khalnayak, defiant Ragini develops Stockholm Syndrome after several cat-and-mouse chase sequences, much traipsing through cinematographer Santosh Sivan [remember Asoka?] approved lush jungle landscapes, and a tribal war-dance to boot. The lines between good and evil blur as Ragini sees the more humane side of Beera and his henchmen [his two brothers, countless admirers, and the token transvestite], and ‘virtuous’ Dev, in the concluding reels [after the obligatory ten-minute action sequence] stands exposed as heartless, calculating douchebag.

Wait. What? Hah – told you this wasn’t your ordinary virtue-versus-vice tale.

That being said, though Mani Ratnam tries his best to weave in elements of a modern rustic India, with its gangfare, violence and criminal-breeding, in this classic tale, he trades in myth for the mundane, stripping Ram of his pious deity status, demoting Raavan from Rakshasa to rabid criminal desperately in need of lozenges [Abhishek's raspy voice quickly became a deterrent], and giving a theatrical, schmaltzy flavor to almost every sequence in the film.

What Clicks: The nonlinear filmmaking style is used to great effect, with Beera’s motive revealed only in the second half. I could write a thesis about the cinematography; each frame was a pièce de résistance, lifting the rather thin storyline to operatic, epic heights. Filmfare should just hand out the award to Santosh Sivan right now. The Bachchans share incredible chemistry [their very first sequence by the waterfalls was riveting - a defiant war-of-words between the psychopath and the suicidal]. Abhishek Bachchan does his best Jack Nicholson-from-The Shining impression, marred only by some incoherent soliloquies. The pace of the film never falters, and the musical interludes are used to great effect. Particularly poignant is the relationship between Dev and Ragini shown through Kathak dance in ‘Khilli Re’ [in a flashback sequence. Oh, and moustache-twiddling is new Bollywood bedroom kink.] Priyamani, playing Beera’s sister, pitches in an exceptional performance; her entire storyline [featuring a craven fiancé, and the worst wedding crashers in the world], involving a startling revelation that kick-starts Beera’s war against Dev, is perhaps the strongest point of the film, and the most emotionally resonating. Aishwarya Rai is at her expressive best when asked by her husband to perform a modern-day version of agni pariksha [read: Burn, Sita, Burn!], a polygraph test, to prove her fidelity. Ravi Kishan as Beera’s equally-psychotic-but-with-heart-of-gold brother, and Nikhil Dwivedi as good cop/bad cop/who can tell, are strong supporting characters.

What Doesn’t: The capture-sequence right at the onset defies logic: If only Ragini’s boatman had changed course instead of blindly stating the obvious, Beera’s boat would never have crashed into theirs. Ragini would never have been kidnapped. There wouldn’t have been a movie. Oh. Rai wails like a Banshee-reject; no wonder Beera has a permanent twitch. Govinda’s character was introduced as Ziyi Zhang from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Seriously, what was with the gravity-defying stunts? Some of the dialogues are cringe-worthy: early on in the film, Rai waxes poetic on Beera, stating: ‘Ye aadmi Raavan hai ya Robin Hood?’ in Kangna Ranaut/Meera-or-similar dialect. Speaking of which, guess the filmmakers couldn’t figure that out either. I mean, I just spent two hours rooting for the villain and shouting ‘Go, Dev, Go!’ in manner of enraged political activist/Pakistani lawyer. Parts of the penultimate sequence seemed a direct copy-paste of Khalnayak [Madhuri - whoops, I meant Aishwarya - stands infront of Abhishek in furious attempt to ward off, say, ten thousand police-officers? Alright, I'm exaggerating just a little.] Oh, and one finds it implausible [Bollywood's favorite catchword] that Beera would have delivered a touching ode to the virtues of Ragini to a belligerent Dev, whilst playing Cliffhanger on a burning bridge. Speaking of: Dev, who? Vikram was reduced to grunting caveman; a one-dimensional character that serves only to ridicule the Indian police-force. And how the hell did Aishwariya Rai manage to find her way back to Beera in the last half; wasn’t she blindfolded when brought to his nest? The climax seemed rushed. That’s because I wanted to see douchebag Dev [our modern-day Ram] get his comeuppance by hell-hath-no-fury-like-Sita-scorned Ragini. Wait, is that blasphemous?

An angry viewer raged post-screening that Raavan is the cinematic equivalent of a dumb blonde: body beautiful, but lacking soul. Though there is no doubt that Mani Ratnam is let down by his own screenplay, I found the film engaging, spirited and fast-paced, backed by wonderful if sporadic performances by both leads, and featuring some exceptional sequences. It might not add up to the likes of predecessors Guru or Yuva, might not be the emotional epics Roja or Bombay were, but it offers viewers an unsettling, if larger-than-life, psychological drama, which is well worth the price of ticket admission. Hell, watch it for the cinematography, if nothing else. Can you say jaw-dropper? – Osman Khalid Butt

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama/Action, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Mani Ratnam, Director – Mani Ratnam, Music Director – A. R. Rahman, Cast - Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Chiyaan Vikram, Govinda, Manisha Koirala, Nikhil Dwivedi, Ravi Kishan, Priyamani