Is Ash all that she is made out to be? - Page 14

Originally posted by: ibelieveinpink

Oh stop! You make me blush. 😳😆

Dude that's ok. Not everyone likes everything. I noticed you said you find Kareena natural and not OTT. But I thought she used be more OTT in her early years than natural, but I think all BW was melodramatic and OTT in the early 2000s. 😆 Art is very subjective and the ppl who connect with, the characters you like all depend on you. For instance, I loved Meera in Cocktail and felt an instant connection to Diana Penty while others didn't or felt a deeper connection with Veronica...it's a personal thing.

Trust me, you're not the only one. My bestie thinks Sush's work in FIlhaal is 100 times better than anything Aish ever did so I know Aish isn't considered a brilliant actress by everyone--but my inner fan will always claim she is. 😆

Originally posted by: Mallika-E-Bhais

She is a complete versatile package- ETHEREAL, GORGEOUS looks, 2 very graceful & nimble feet & the thirst to do well.

If she were not THE Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, we wouldn't even be discussing her here right now. 😆 😆

Originally posted by: rogerrocks

I totally respect your opinion..And i agree that Ash has experimented a lot compared to say a Kajol or Kareena..But I never really connected to her acting..What am stating here is purely my opinion..I have mentioned this many times on this thread and i say it again..For me, there is always a degree of artificiality in her performance..I don see that nonchalance and ease in her acting..There are just a couple of films where i found her really impressive..The rest have been mediocre to say the least..From the list of brilliant performances you listed , i found her fabulous only in JA, Raincoat, Choker Bali and HDDCS to a certain extent..Again, there were scenes where her performance made me cringe..Am not undermining her achievements or questioning her popularity..I was talking only about her acting skills and it is strictly my opinion that she is a mediocre actress..

Originally posted by: ponymo

Aishwarya Rai is hailed as a brilliant actress on this forum? She's always being dissed by most of the Khan fans and rival-actress fans. Even her sneeze is criticized, why would her acting be excused? 😆

Aishwarya Rai is a very good actress, who has given a mixture of brilliant, average and bad performances. Which actor hasn't? Everybody hails Aamir as this great actor but he was still horrible in Dhoom 3, Mela, Mangal Pandey etc. He has given average performances too, the ones in Fanaa, Rang De Basanti. And was brilliant in movies like Taare Zameen Par, Sarfarosh, Lagaan. How about a Vidya Balan? She was brilliant in Ishqiya, The Dirty Picture, Paa, Kahaani, Parineeta. Average in Munnabhai, No One Killed Jessica, Bhool Bhulaiya and horrible in Heyy Babyy, Kismat Konnection, Ghanchakkar, Halla Bol, Shaadi Ke Side Effects. Likewise, Aishwarya was brilliant in HDDCS, Taal, Raincoat, Provoked, Jodhaa Akbar, Devdas, Guzaarish, Chokher Bali, Guru, and most of her Tamil movies. Average performances in Sarkar, Umrao Jaan, Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, Khakee, Raavan (Hindi one, she was very good in the Tamil one). Bad ones in Dhoom 2, Action Replayy, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi, Albela etc. She has delivered too many wonderful performances to be called average/mediocre.

Fact is she could have stuck to her comfort zone like a Kajol or a Preity and scored better, but she did not. She always experimented and did new stuff. Latest example would be turning downHappy New Year opposite SRK and Mohenjodaro opposite Hrithik Roshan, which are more or less sure shot blockbusters. And what does she choose? Mani Ratnam's spy thriller in Telugu and Sanjay Gupta's action thriller drama Jazbaa with her in the lead role - genres that she's never attempted before. She did fail in a few, but that did not stop her from pursuing newer avenues. She has always been this gutsy actor and the passion for her craft showed. This is why I disagree when her filmography is dissed, she has sculpted one of the best oeuvres for a superstar actress. Purely because of the variety of movies that she has done and the extent of critical success they have seen, I believe she has the highest number of "Best film" award winning movies on her repertoire.

Also, can one imagine a Vidya or a Kajol pulling off a Dhoom 2? For a moment let's keep the cringeworthy "Are you checking me out?" dialogue aside and dwell on this. They both are much younger than Ash, but they would still look comical in that look. Heck, Kareena tried to do what Ash did in Dhoom 2 in Tashan and the result is there for all to see. Ash can pull off a Dhoom 2 at one hand immediately pull out a Guru, Jodhaa Akbar, Provoked up from her other sleeve (this was the order of their releases I believe).

For someone who had absolutely no connections to the industry, and no formal training in acting, she has come a long way. Being the youngest Padmashri winner for her contribution to cinema is testimony to that. I humbly rest my case.

Originally posted by: ponymo

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And I totally respect yours too. 😃 What I stated is purely my opinion too (other than some facts). And you are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. But you did not like Provoked? I am surprised. She was outstanding there. And she was such a natural in Kandukondain Kandukondain too. I liked her performance in Umrao Jaan too, since we are talking about performances and not the film. The film was too long and boring, but she did well there, but it's been 5 years since I last saw that film, have to watch it again and let's see if it strengthens or weakens my opinion. I keep watching her dances on YouTube though. She had the perfect dances! Shame Annu Malik couldn't give some memorable songs in the film! All of them sounded the same. Ok, I see we are digressing here. 😆

Coming back to the point, yes, there are films where she inhibits herself and is too conscious to become the character completely (most of such ones I listed in the bad performances section), probably because of shyness or what. This was mainly prelevant in some of her earlier films - probably she felt weird acting when no one from her family or friends has done that before. That's where Mani and SLB did wonders, they totally made her lose herself before the camera and she let herself transform into the character. So while I acknowledge this criticism of Ash by you, most of it was long back; she has fairly succeeded in getting rid of the artificiality that you mention. This artificiality comes to the fore when she has weakly written characters to portray, for example, a Sunehri from Dhoom 2. You could tell she could not relate to the character when she was mouthing those ridiculous lines, and that showed on the screen. However, this holds true for most actors! Kareena was fake as ever in Satyagraha; she is normally not, but the character was so contrived and superficial that she could never rise beyond it. Similarly, Priyanka in Anjaana Anjaani, Kangana in that movie with Ajay Devgn, Kajol in My Name Is Khan, etc.

So bottomline is, she is no Meryl Streep. But when there is a well etched role and a decent director, there is no stopping Aishwarya.

Originally posted by: rogerrocks

Yeah she was decent in Provoked,..Din find her extraordinary though..And you might roll your eyes now but i din exactly like her performance in Kandukonden Kandukonden either..Probably because i felt it was a skewed adaptation of S&S and i could never get myself to like the film..The fact that i loved Tabu's story a lot more dint help either 😆

I get what you are trying to say..I believe Ash is good in her comfort zone..JA, Guru etc..But she is a disaster in Dhoom 3 type films..I don think she pulled it off..Someone like Katrina( who is exceptionally underwhelming as an actress) is more suited for those kinda roles IMO..

Originally posted by: Me_Anonymous

you forgot to put acting in there, she is an actor, isn't she? Looks alone don't make you versatile neither does dancing or wanting to do more/different.😳

I disagree. Aishwarya has an identity of her own. The Bachchan surname might have added a bit to her fame and popularity but she is still known more for her initial career (Miss World, Diva, Actor, Dancer, etc.). In fact, the one who seems to have gained something from Aishwarya's marriage to AB Jr. is the Bachchan clan. It has given AB Jr. more exposure (internationally) and AB Sr. and Jaya a more positive public image.

I am not saying Aishwarya didn't gain anything but just that both sides gained equally.

Also, the reason Aishwarya is being discussed is because there is something to be discussed about her - she had a career in the entertainment industry. A few months ago it was Kajol, Rani, Amisha Patel, Preity. So it's just Aishwarya's turn now.

All actors are in public mind so they would be discussed and their career analysed when they are their peak or post-peak or when they have fallen from the top.😊

Originally posted by: ponymo

Cool! 😊 For me, she, in Provoked and Guzaarish in particular, gave wonderfully subtle and layered performances. When you watch it for the third or fourth time, you notice certain nuances that you had missed during the first watch.

Well, I never read S&S, although I watched the film adaptation (the English version with Kate Winslet in it) and I preferred KK to that. May be the fact that I watched KK first makes me biased. 😛 But Rajeev Menon weaved an Indian version very well IMHO. Aishwarya was absolutely natural there, if we strictly speak about the portrayal and not the story. I wasn't a big fan of her Bride and Prejudice, which was another Jane Austen adaptation, but I loved KK. Something magical about it. This is why I get angry when she turned down his biopic on MS Subbulakshmi.

Regarding Dhoom 2 type of movies, when you say Katrina is more suited to them I agree with you. But not because Katrina does it any better. For example, that bullet scene in the film, you need expressions once in a while, however masala/commercial a film is. 😆 But Katrina is more suited to it in the sense that she doesn't have anything to spoil in there, but put her in a JA or a Guru or a HDDCS, and the result is... . Aishwarya is more suited to serious cinema, but she has done very few commercial movies like Dhoom 2 and Endhiran. In her POV, she could have her share of fun too, who doesn't want to have a good time on the sets, when you can spend the time chilling and not thinking about the character. 😆