Aishwarya Rai Infographic

It's more to do with her hunger to prove herself. All Ash has heard in the last one year is that she's a plastic non-performer.

Now as she sits over a volcano of praise she can afford to smile. "This whole brauty thing is so redundant. It's the people around me who have a problem with my looks. It's they who allow" it' to come in the way of assessing my performances sincerely. I never thought about how to consciously diminish my looks while playing 'Niroo' in Raincoat. Sure, she's washed-out and faded. But when I decided to put dark circles around my eyes Ajay told me to take it easy. No one does all this, he warned me. But I was just being in character.

In fact being in-character was a constant issue on the sets of Raincoat. Ghosh not only padded Aishwarya Rai to indicate a life gone to flab, he also made her wear homespun underclothes to 'feel' the part.

The actress blushes at her brush with method acting.That's true. Ritu and I went all-out and all in,"she giggles her characteristic giggle, and then sobers down. "I felt a deep sense of empathy for my character in Raincoat. She isn't really poor. She can still afford silk saris and gold jewellery. But God, what a frighteningly wretched life!

What about those who say she cannot feel her character's abject misery. 'Why?' she shoots back? "Because I haven't known hunger and financial insecurity? Because I haven't been married to an insensitive man? Believe me I've gone through enough in life to feel what 'Niroo' has gone through."

The allusion to a certain Mr Khan doesn't elude me. A look of haunted pensiveness passes through her immaculate face."People said I giggled too much. What was I supposed to do? Cry and show my bleeding heart in public? To hide what I was going through I had to laugh my way through the crisis"

Fortunately 'The Crisis' has blown over. Today Ash alchemizes her pain to play characters who have gone through hell. For an actor hell is a state of the 'mime'. You imbibe the experience and regurgitate it at the first opportunity.

Now the time has come for Ms Rai to let the world know she's no Barbie doll. Sure her performances during the earlier part of the year was hooted. After Raincoat no one can accuse her of not trying.

There's another acute shortage confronting her life. "You mean another one?" she laughs loudly.

Yes, another one. The shortage of leading men of stature. 2004 proved she can't jell with Vivek Oberoi or Martin Henderson. She worked far better with Ajay Devgan at the beginning and end of the year in Khakee and Raincoat . 'But how many films can Ajay and I do together? I know we vibe really well, and we've done some high-quality work together in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and now Raincoat. But I don't want the audience to tire of us.'

None of the Khans is willing to work with her. Salman is out of the question. Shah Rukh has fallen out with her. As for Aamir he won't forgive her for walking out of The Rising. In fact recently when they came face-to-face at a social do, Aamir looked straight through Ash.

"Where did you hear that?"she neither confirms nor denies the rumour. But the hurt shows. She sighs, 'It's true there's a scarcity of leading men. Whom do I work with? There's Sanjay Dutt and Ajay. I'm very happy working with them. But who else?"

Isn't it sad, but the best couples in the world are made in heaven, but never really happen on earth?