She’s known as the face of Indian cinema worldwide. But the Bachchan bahu who once brought home the Miss World crown is completely at ease in her model avatar.
Having walked the ramp at the launch of Longines’ HydroConquest line at Taj Bengal on Friday, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was clearly delighted. “From being a student to Miss World to an actress, my life moved very fast. I wasn’t a model for long and I hardly did ramp shows. But walking the ramp today felt natural.” said Ash, in a navy blue, one-shouldered, Gauri and Nayanika gown.
Just back from a “long, hard schedule in Peru for Shankar’s Robot with Rajnikant”, Ash played brand ambassador to the hilt. “This range is dedicated to those who have conquered the ocean. It’s special to me because my father was a marine engineer,” she said.
Happy about visiting Kolkata at the onset of Durga Puja, Ash reminisced, “As a child, I visited the Ramakrishna Mission with Ma and Nanima, who are followers of the Mission. It’s unfortunate I cannot stay back for Puja here.”
About future projects, Ash said, “Robot is a Shankar-Rajnikant film so you can expect lots of special effects and masala. Pink Panther is an international project and a new genre. And Abhishek and I will start shooting for Mani Ratnam’s film, tentatively titled Ravan.”
Rumour has it that Aishwarya is following in her father-in-law’s footsteps by adding a blog to her personal website. “I don’t want to commit to blogging without knowing for sure that I can give it time. Though I admire the way Pa has used the platform to share his feelings and connect people to our daily lives,” she said. Which brought us to the Unforgettable Tour, mention of which brought a bigger smile to Ash’s face. “After every show we would gather in Pa’s room and discuss how amazing it was. And Abhishek’s first world tour, too,” she said. “People were congratulating us everywhere. I almost felt like a new bride.”
{{/usCountry}}Rumour has it that Aishwarya is following in her father-in-law’s footsteps by adding a blog to her personal website. “I don’t want to commit to blogging without knowing for sure that I can give it time. Though I admire the way Pa has used the platform to share his feelings and connect people to our daily lives,” she said. Which brought us to the Unforgettable Tour, mention of which brought a bigger smile to Ash’s face. “After every show we would gather in Pa’s room and discuss how amazing it was. And Abhishek’s first world tour, too,” she said. “People were congratulating us everywhere. I almost felt like a new bride.”
{{/usCountry}}On Shah Rukh Khan’s presence at the Drona premiere, Ash was the paragon of diplomacy. “It’s nice when people from the fraternity turn up in support.” But she was lavish in her praise of Drona. “It’s the kind of film we haven’t seen in years. And Abhishek’s a fantastic actor.” So how about playing a superwoman on screen? “I play one in real life every day,” she laughed, signing off with, “Shobai-ke Durga Pujor preeti o bhalobas-ha” in near-flawless Bengali.