NO HOLLYWOOD : ASH

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: When Askmen.Com put her on their current list of Top 50 Most Desirable Women in the World, they weren€™t fudging. In her mid-30s, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is still stunningly beautiful, and no one€™s even questioning her acting abilities.

In New York City last week to promote the Hollywood production Pink Panther 2, in which she plays a part, Aishwarya, looking svelte in jeans, baby blue sweater and white scarf, was generous with her time when she met with the desi media, and gave voluminously prosaic answers to all kinds of questions.

For those vexing her with the question whether she is crossing over to Hollywood, Aishwarya has a firm response: €œI am not looking to make an inroad into Hollywood. This script (Pink Panther 2) found me and I was thrilled to be part of a franchise we have grown up on.€ Working on Pink Panther was fun of course and she thanks her husband Abhishek Bachchan for having encouraged her to take on the role.

€œIt€™s the Pink Panther, dude, you will have a blast,€ he is supposed to have told her when she wasn€™t sure she could work this project into her schedule coming as it did soon after her marriage. €œNow I am glad to have done it,€ she says. €œWhile having fun, you always come away learning something new, so it was a great experience.€

Again, for those who question her about how much screen time she managed to get in this Hollywood venture, she sighs: €œIts good that people are concerned about my presence in the film and how much of it there is, but its interesting that they don€™t ask the same when I do small roles in some of the Indian films (like Mohabbatein) or they don€™t ask the other Hollywood actors how much screen time they have.€

Aishwarya sees her Pink Panther experience as from one film to the next rather than from which part of the world its made in. €œIt€™s really up to the filmmaker who makes the experience individual,€ she says. Besides, she says, there has been a lot of change in the way things work in the Indian film industry. €œThe gap is getting smaller,€ she explains.

€œThere is so much of exchange of talent and technical expertise its difficult today to define any kind of difference in the way we work. There are a lot of more similarities and I am happy to experience working in different parts of the world and in different parts of India itself.

When you work in films of different languages, your experience is different.€ Everyday of working on Pink Panther, which stars Hollywood stalwarts like Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin and Andy Garcia, was memorable, Aishwarya recalls. €œJust as in my last Hollywood film The Last Legion, they didn€™t have any other Indian on the unit, but I was very much at home.

We were a motley group of actors and though doing comedy is serious work, it was fun for me to work in this genre. It was wonderful to be doing comedy that too in English. Everybody was improvising on the set, and I was just happy to be on board with a team like this.€

What was indeed memorable was when on her very first day of the shooting €" in Paris €" hoards of Indians lined up to see her and waited patiently in the cold till the end of the shoot to meet with her. Indians atop tourist buses too waved out to her enthusiastically, prompting many on the unit including Steve Martin to ask her if this happens with her all the time.

€œI think it is our familiar quality that makes people in other parts of the world wonder about us Indians and they just love that,€ she says. €œI don€™t like to use the word €˜fans€™, but with so many of my well-wishers I feel so blessed, I feel people€™s love, the connection is so personal and I can€™t thank them enough and try to reciprocate it at every opportunity I have.€

To the most frequently asked question on whether Bollywood should get more recognition from Hollywood, Aishwarya says no one industry should be regarded as a barometer for standard. €œThis is not to offend anyone€™s sensibilities, but each one should be proud of the kind of cinema they are doing.

The thing specific to Indian cinema is that we have been catering specifically to Indian sensibility; it€™s virtually a part of our culture and for the longest time Indian cinema did not look to broaden its horizons and cater to an audience outside of its own. But the rest of the world is beginning to enjoy -- I won€™t say recognize -- but enjoy our cinema as well. That again is because the world is getting smaller socially which is beginning to reflect in international cinema; they recognize the diversity of the audiences now.

We are all enjoying our place on the international platform.€ Interestingly for Aishwarya, she says she didn€™t have to worry about working on her English accent for Pink Panther. €œMy accent seems to modulate itself to whichever part of the world I travel to,€ she says. €œEven in India whether I am doing a Bengali film or a Tamil film I tend to speak with the local accent. It€™s the same when I am overseas.

It€™s not a concerted effort to blend in, but I think it just comes to me€it€™s the sponge in me.€ On the set she was told that she had a fairly international way of speaking and nothing needed to be done about her accent. Besides, for the role itself, she didn€™t need any accent coach as did some of the other cast.

€œIt€™s important that when you decide to take the plunge into new areas, you have to shed pre-conceived guards and sensitivities when you are working with an international team because if you tend to get defensive about these things, it will make working very difficult,€ she says in a preachy tone.

€œYou don€™t have to shed your self-respect, but you don€™t have to be always on the guard or be on the defensive that you might be put on the line because of where you come from.€ More than the international attention she is getting, it is the recognition of her work back home with the government conferring the Padma Shri on her this Republic Day that has Aishwarya overwhelmed.

€œIt€™s an absolute privilege and honor to be recognized by your government, your country. It€™s overwhelming, something I will treasure and cherish for a long time.€ Also of significance is the fact that her Padma Shri is the fifth such honor for the Bachchan family with Harivanshrai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan having won the award in the past.

Amitabh has also been conferred the Padma Vibhushan. €œSo that made it very special,€ trills Aishwarya. So, are there any more Hollywood roles coming her way? €œI have already taken a lot of work back home for this year,€ Aishwarya says in response.

€œBut I keep my schedules open ended and it would be great if I get more work overseas.€ There were all these stories about working with Will Smith, she adds on her own. €œOf course one would love to (work with Will Smith) and it would be exciting, but it€™s a question of when it is meant to be.€ Pink Panther 2 released in North America on Feb 6 and is set for Feb 27 release in India.