Aishwarya Rai - The Wax Wonder!

Guest Column: This article was written by Vivek, a brilliant writer when it comes to articulating ideas. Again, this was written at dogmatrix.com. He now blogs occasionally (how I wish he blogged more!) at india-reality.blogspot.com

Of late the newspapers are so full of Ash, as former Miss World Aishwarya Rai is called by friends & fans. Her break up with former beau, the controversial Salman Khan. Her romance with actor Vivek Oberoi. The spat between her current & former lover. The inauguration of her wax statue at Madam Tussauds in London with much fanfare & hoopla. The over-hyped release of her English language magnum opus ‘Bride & Prejuidice’ (BP), which incidently sunk at the box-office giving it’s exhibitors some real ‘BP’ (blood pressure). Recently this lady also signed the contract for a Lux soap advertisement which made her richer by Rs. 3 crores! (for a single 3-minute Ad!!) buy mla essay, online instead of writing.

There is really something about this lady. She is becoming more famous & more richer, even when most of her movies are disastrously flopping. Most surprisingly nobody seems to care! That’s the magic of this green-eyed lass.

Her-story

She hails from the mofussil coastal town of Mangalore, where she was born & raised till the age of four. Then she moved permanently to the megapolis of India - Mumbai, when her dad got a job there in the merchant navy. She gave up her Architecture course, when the world of modelling began to beckon her, while in college.

Soon she rose to become one of the top models in India - thanks to her voluptuous figure & seductive green eyes. She even starred in the famous & memorable Pepsi Ad opposite the Boolywood dream-boy Aamir Khan as ‘Sanjana’. Not statisfied with limiting her fortoflio to Mumbai & India, she jumped into the ‘Femina Miss India 1994′ bandwagon.

It was a sore disappointment when she came a runner-up to Ms. Sushmita Sen, who went on to win ‘Miss Universe’ title. This put a lot of pressure on Ash to come out a winner at ‘Miss World’ pageant held in Sun City, South Africa. In the repeat of ‘Sushmita Sen’ victory, Ash went on to win the ‘Miss World 94′ crown, with the act of holding ones cheeks really tight & opening the mouth wide in excitement; wide enough to engluf the entire stadium! ( which incidently suits an ‘Alien’ movie more than a beauty contest!)

Rich & famous with countless modelling contracts in her pocket, Ash was busy in London for a year, till the term of her reign as Ms. World ended. She was warmly welcomed by Bollywood, despite Sushmita Sens ‘intro’ movie bombing at BO.

Tollywood Beckons

Though there was no shortage of lucrative offers from Hindi film industry, Ms Rai chose to start her movie career in Tamil films (Tollywood) with the movie ‘Iruvar’(The Two). Why not? When the director of the movie happens to be Mani Rathnam, the most renowned movie director of India!

Incidently ‘Iruvar’ was not her first movie. She had done a cameo in a little known Telugu movie - ‘Mamagaru’, which was her first film. Iruvar was her first movie in a major role.The movie was about the relationship between ex-CM MGR & his relationship with his mentor & later his arch-foe, Mr. Karunanidhi. With heavyweights like Mohanlal - Malalayam super-star who plays MGR, Prakash Raj (Rai) - a villain in most movies playing Karunanidhi, Revathi, Tabu & Nassar - of the ‘Roja’ miliary officer fame, Aishwaryas role was to add glamour to the otherwise dry political movie. But even her beauty could not save this movie from vanishing within a week from most theatres! Not a very good start to ones career. It might come as a shock to her fans that she played J “Amma” Jayalalithaa in this movie!!

Her next movie was her first foray into Bollywood, ‘Aur Pyaar Hogaya’ starring Bobby Deol & Shammi Kapoor. It was a rehash of the much-cliched ‘falling for a guy over mistaken-identity & sticking to him’ plot (which we were fored to bear once more recently as ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’). As could be expected, the movie was a total washout.

It was her third movie (Tamil/Hindi) ‘Jeans’ which made the Mumbai film industry sit & notice her. The movie which likened Ash to the ‘Eighth Wonder’ of this World in the same league as Taj Mahal & the Pyramid at Giza ( I hope they did not imply pallid), created waves in Tamil box office, but went unnoticed in Hindi theatres.

Queen of Bollywood

Before the string of unending flops would turn her into yet another item girls like her contemporary beauty queen Sush, director Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ saved the day, by becoming a chart-buster. This is one movie where one can safely bet that Ash did her best to act - though mostly limited to giggling, appearing ‘lost’ (which comes natural to her) & a sensual doll. Her role was that of a village belle torn between her love & husband. Her stunning looks in traditional Rajasthani dress, exotic visage & her exemplary dance skills made her a household name in no time. This very movie which firmly established Ash as a saleable figure, also started her ignominious failed romance with co-star Salman Khan.

The movies that followed especially Josh (co-starring Shahrukh), Devdas (SRK & Madhuri Dixit) & her cameo as a ‘ghost’ in Yash-Raj films ‘Mohabbatein’established her as a bankable star in Hindi filmdom. Josh though an out & out SRK film, starred Ms. Rai as his younger brattish sister! Capitalizing on Khan-power & the tapori song ‘Apun Bola…’ the film became a hit. Tapori songs & films were the flavor of the day back then, owing to Ghulam & Rangeela being such huge hits.

Her brief cameo in ‘Mohabbatein’ was quite insignifant, that of a ghost doing a ’saree-show’ whenever SRK got in mood for a song; She got the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for a role which alternated with ‘Shower of maple leaves across the screen’ as a screen-saver whenever the director decided to take a break.

Devas was a period film based on Sarat Chandra Chatterji’s timeless classic novel. This was the third time that the book was being made into a movie, this time under the stewardship of Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Kamoshi, HDDCS). It had saleable Shahrukh & returned ‘native’ actress Madhuri along with Ash. Ash played the role of ‘Paro’ the lost love of Devdas (SRK). This movie had extravagant sets, scintillating dance and music, lavish period costumes… all except creditable acting & direction. Madhuris role as the courtesan ‘Chandramukhi’ being the sole exception.

Despite director Bhansalis best efforts, Devdas couldn’t make it to the Oscars finals, unlike it’s forerunner ‘Lagaan’. But did manage to get a screening at the prestigious Cannes film festival in France. This colorful movie became a surefire hit at the Festival owing to it’s colorful canvas & the lead heroine with exotic looks. Enamored by Ash’s exotica, she was also made a jury panelist for the next Cannes film-fete.

‘Bride’ her like Chadda

It was then that Gurinder Chadda, shining with her recent sucessful movie ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ offered her a role in her twist on Jane Austen’s classic ‘Pride & the Prejuidice’, which was named ‘Bride & the Prejuidice’ - owing to Chaddas prejuidice in titling her movies to begin with the lucky letter ‘B’ (British? Beckham? Buckingham? Burger?!).

Having an ensemble cast of Indian beauties Ash, Namrata Shirodkar (another former Miss India), Piya Roy Chaudary paired against little-known British actors, the movie was projected as a ‘winning horse’. What with the curry-mad Britain — where Hindi movies make it to top 10, Indian metros — which have grown so receptive of cross-over films like BILB and… of course elfin Ash to pull the crowds if everything else were to fail… it looked a winner. As an icing on the cake (or ‘Sone pe Suhaga’ as we call back in India), Madame Tussauds decision(?) to include Ashs statue in it’s collection of Bollywood personalities coincided with the premiere of BP!

The joy was short-lived. British film critics massacred the movie, going hammer and tongs — for being childish & unfocussed. Ashs looks couldn’t save her acting (in)abilities from receiving the rap. It’s Hindi version ‘Bhalle Bhalle…Amritsar to LA(?)’ also failed miserably contrary to expectations.

Nevertheless… Ash still has so many English & Hindi movies in her kitty to last her a year & add to it the recent contract with Lux! She can afford to continue as the ‘wax wonder’ in movies for some more time, despite all setbacks.

Her USPs

A well-endowed voluptuous figure. Full lips. Green eyes. Seductive looks. Looks so alluring in traditional & classical attire. A trained BharathaNatyam danseuse - which is a highly valued asset in music-and-dance-crazy Bollywood. All in all.. she has got every thing that can make a man ‘kill for’ & a lady to burn into cinders in jealousy.

Her drawbacks

1) Selection of movies - Her choice was looked more credible when her mother Brinda Rai used to look after her career. Ash should stop signing movies just because it has her lover as Hero, or just because it’s being directed by a renowned director. Especially she should avoid movies trying to cash-in on her name, image & looks. She should seriously evaluate her character/role in the movie & it’s importance in the movie.

She should realise the reality that her acting capabilities remain the same as it was when she was a school head-girl, for all the media-hype projecting her the next ‘Best thing’ to come out of India, after Mahatma Gandhi (sic).

She should deliberately avoid any movies that require her to do any serious acting, and instead concentrate on those roles that require her to do nothing more than dance, prowl & look bewitching. The more the chance to display her ‘key assets’, the better.

Even if she decides to continue acting in British movies (and of course Hollywood) movies; She should be acting as the next ‘Bond girl’ instead of acting in the debut movie of Gurindar Chaddas whatshisname husband!

2) Selection of Boy friends - Her first (known publicly) lover was Salman. She dated him despite his notorious reputation of being a playboy, alcoholic & an abuser of girl-friends. This affair ended in an embarassment to Ash with Salman creating a ruckus outside her apartment under the influence of alcohol, finally culminating into a public spat between Salman & her new love interest Vivek Oberoi.

Even Vivek Oberoi is an actor whose career is yet to take off & mostly floundering! The film ‘Kyon.. Ho gaya Na’ starring her with Vivek (Big B) ended as BO refugee & ‘Timbuctoo’ folded before anyone could spell it’s name. As all filmi romances go, it would be anybodys guess as to how long this romance shall last.

Businessmen (Juhi Chalwa), Producers (Sri Devi) & Desi doctors in America (Madhuri) are always a much safer bet for Bollywood heroines. She should also concentrate more on her movie career, so that magazines are full of her movie-news, instead of love affairs.

3) A real Wax Wonder ! — Finally… she should try to be a little more expressive than her ‘clone’ at Madam Tussads!

To Summarize…

In a nut-shell (as they teach in Biz schools) — ’she should select those roles that let her capitalize on her core strengths (looks), desist harmful distractions (read.. troublesome boy friends), allowing a harmonious synergy of her dancing skills & key assets (you-know-what), culminating in a win-win situation’