"I don’t need to grab news space"-AISHWARYA RAI INTERVIEW after cannes 2003

INTERVIEW | AISHWARYA RAI

I told Raj Santoshi, I'd do whatever film he offered me

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Aishwarya Rai hasn’t been too receptive to the press recently. And you can’t blame her really after all the media bashing she’s been getting since her accident and her appearance at Cannes. However, refraining from furnishing any clarifications and justifications, she has been quietly wrapping up her work on Gurinder Chadda’s Bride And Prejudice and Sameer Karnik’s Kyun...Ho Gaya Na in London these last few months, far away from the the sniffing Cassandras. But even tight-lipped, Aishwarya has still managed to get a fair share of coverage in the international press thanks to the recently-released Chokher Bali and the Time magazine cover that projected her as India’s beautiful emissary. We managed to corner her on the sets of Keshu’s Khakee a day before her 30th birthday, while she was doing some patchwork shooting with co-stars, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan. The questions were many. But time was precious with director Rajkumar Santoshi hurrying her through her shots. Aishwarya, in a rare moment of soul-baring, spoke eloquently on some issues that had been festering within her for far too long. Excerpts: MIDBANNER

After the accident, when you returned to the Khakee sets, what were you feeling?

I returned to Nashik, to the very spot where the accident happened, wearing the same clothes and being asked to enact a scene quite like what I’d been doing just before I was carried out of the sets, faint and injured. It was bizarre! For a moment it seemed almost as if I hadn’t been away. Yet, at the same time, a lot had happened in the interim. The Cannes Film Festival for one. Being on the Cannes jury had been an incredible experience, both physically and emotionally. I’d watched 23 films, attended innumerable jury meets and press conferences, offered my opinion several times on different issues while battling a foot injury and dealing with almost unbearable pain. This was followed by unanticipated media bashing after my return home. I’d thought I’d never forget the experience but in Nashik there were times when I found myself asking, “Hey, did Cannes really happen?” It felt like a dream. I could almost convince myself that I’d gone to sleep for a while like Rip Van Winkle and then woken up to find myself at the same spot but not feeling quite the same because so much had taken place in between...

Must have been unnerving?

It was. But when I shared my feelings with Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) he confided that when he had returned to the Coolie sets after his accident, he felt the same. “Jahan pe gira wahin pe utha,” were his exact words. That reassured me and had me smiling.

I’m told the accident could have been fatal?

Yeah, I was lucky to get away with a Jones fracture and a leg injury. However, the accident was by itself pretty scary. I was blessed with another life. As Rajji (Rajkumar Santoshi) says, it was like a certificate from God that he loves me and wants me to be around for more time.

What was your first thought when you regained consciousness after being hit by the jeep?

I was under the jeep, wrapped in a cactus. I opened my eyes to see the tyres of the jeep directly above me. And my first thought was a prayer that the car wouldn’t start suddenly and crush me. I could see death staring me in the face and I didn’t want to be slowly ground to pulp. That was too terrible an end to even envisage so I started screaming weakly to let people know that I was still alive. I could hear voices...I think it was Tusshar’s...and I knew that if I could just let people know that I wasn’t dead yet, they’d jump to my rescue.

And they did, didn’t they?

Yeah, everyone was wonderful! The wheels of the jeep had jammed and since I was directly under the tyres they couldn’t risk reversing the car. It would have been too dangerous! So the whole unit got together and just lifted the jeep off me. Then Akshay (Kumar) who told me later that he had opened his dictionary of abuses in his desperation, jumped in and literally plucked me out of the prickly cactus bushes, holding me in a horizontal position so there’d be no jerking to my back and neck. I had no feelings from the hip below and all that I could mutter was, “It’s my legs.” That’s what I told Amitji too when he asked me how I was feeling.

Mr Bachchan, we’re told, was like a rock in the storm?

He was. We were in a no reception area. So he drove for about 40 minutes and when he was able to use his cell phone, got in touch with Sahara to arrange a flight for me. I had been rushed to a nearby hospital by then and though X-rays had confirmed that there were no internal injuries, Amitji insisted that I be flown down to Mumbai immediately for an MMR. I guess, it was because of his own internal injuries that he wanted me to take all precautions and get the best help possible. Even my mom who I’d worried about all along, wondering how she’d react to the news of the accident, felt the same way. So I was rushed to Mumbai and into the Hinduja Hospital as soon as possible. (Emotionally) Everyone was so caring. Amitji, Akshay, Rajji, Tusshar...Tusshar had been sitting next to me when suddenly the jeep had swerved and skidded. I was hit...the jeep missed him by inches. He got away with a scratch but he was completely shook up and in shock (Flashes a wry smile).

The accident became a national event?

Yeah, but two days after it happened my near-fatal-brush-with-death became a “little toe injury”. There were some derogatory articles written about me appearing on TV in a wheelchair with a walking stick. They called it an attention-seeking gimmick. That hurt! Hey, I’ve been in the public eye for around a decade now. I’ve been seen in every possible role, from a model to a beauty queen, from an actress to a brand ambassador and a jury member on an international film festival. I don’t need to do such things to grab news space after the kind of media glare I’ve got without any effort on my part. I consoled myself with the thought that the real people...the people who mattered and the man on the streets... knew the truth. That’s why I didn’t feel the need to give any clarifications or justifications.

The media bashing continued, specially after Cannes when you were pulled up for your poor dress sense. ???
It did and it made me wonder, “Is this what being on an international jury is all about?” Cannes was an honour and when in France, I was treated with the kind of reverence reserved for someone representing her country and industry. I was the youngest member on the jury and the press there had been so encouraging and supportive...Full of praise for me for bearing the pain so stoically. I wasn’t supposed to walk for six weeks but since I had already committed to the Cannes festival organisers, I was up and about in the fifth week. The doctors had advised me to use a walking stick but once again, the festival organisers stepped in. Since there were only three women on the jury, they gave us two male escorts each. So I walked the red carpet with two men on either side. They were basically around to prop me up without me having to hobble down with a cane. I came back home glowing only to have a bucket of cold water thrown over my euphoria. I still wonder why so much of fuss was made about my clothes...

Well, you were the country’s brand ambassador...

Yeah, but people conveniently forgot that I was injured at the time. For me comfort scored over chic. I had to wear clothes and shoes I could manage. Besides, being a jury member and the L’Oreal brand ambassador is a hectic and strenuous job in normal circumstances. With all the photo opportunities, jury meets and press conferences, I was literally running from pillar to post. It’s exhausting and doubly so for someone who was in great physical discomfort and under heavy medication. Also, my focus, all my life, has been on delivering what is expected of me. The trappings have always been incidental. I wore what my designer gave me. The L’Oreal people did my hair and make-up. It was a simple matter of different hands and different preferences.

On the question of looks, Khakee should present a very different picture considering you’re playing a cop in the film?

Am I? Watch the film, then ask me the question. All I can say at the moment is that Khakee is Rajkumar Santoshi’s film and he’s shaped some very interesting characters.

He’s also shot a very beautiful song on you and Akshay?

‘Vada raha pyar se pyar ka, ab hum na honge juda...’ is a very pretty song. Rajji, KV and Ganesh Acharya have done full justice to it. I’ve been asked repeatedly if the song was shot some place abroad but no it’s Khandala. The hill-station has never been captured so beautifully on celluloid. Beauty is right here, just a hop, skip and jump away (Smiles).

What’s it like being a pretty woman in a male-dominated film?

Khakee is not the female lead and I only agreed to do the film for Rajji. For the last seven years, since I joined the industry, he and I have been meaning to work together. He’s come to me for almost every film he’s done so far, but sometimes the scripts changed and often time was the defining factor. This year, I told Rajji that I would do whatever film he offered me. So when he came to me with Khakee I immediately agreed to do the film. Raj is a wonderful friend and an important part of our cinema. His research is always very thorough and at the same time he is an entertaining film-maker. Hopefully, Khakee will be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership. Rajji himself says that it is the start of many more films together.

What was your opinion of the police force before and since you’ve done the film?

I’ve always had great respect for our force and that has not altered in any way since I started work on Khakee. If anything, my regard for our cops, whom we turn to for protection and who work so selflessly for our security, has only increased since interacting with them more closely.

You were on the cover of Time magazine recently as the brand ambassador of India and the Hindi film industry. Must have been another top-of-the-world feeling?

It was an honour. And people from the industry... the media...everyone made me feel very special indeed.

The international press has also been quite upbeat about Chokher Bali.

Yeah, starting with the Locarno film festival to the Toronto film festival, the reactions to the film with every screening, became more and more laudatory. And for me the unbiased opinion of the foreign critics was reassuring because a lot of eyebrows were raised when I signed the film. After Devdas everyone wondered why I wanted to be associated with a Bengali film being made on such a minuscule budget. But from my very first film, Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar, my focus has been to establish my credentials in the industry as an actress first and a star later. However, despite this, I knew that there was a lot of speculation about my choice of film and on whether I was the right choice for Binodini. So the rave reviews the film drew on the international film circuit were, as I mentioned earlier, reassuring because I knew that the foreign press had nothing to gain or lose by praising or criticizing me. They were not perceiving me as a star but only judging the final product for what it was. However, both Ritu (Rituparno Ghosh) and I knew that the real test would be when the film released in the Bengali film market.

And how has the film been received in Kolkata? Reports are mixed...

Ritu called me up on the day of its release in Kolkata and he was ecstatic. Though he himself has taken a few creative liberties with Tagore’s work, the film has been accepted unconditionally. And so have I, a non-Bengali, as Binodini, one of Tagore’s women Kolkata is very passionate and possessive about. Bengal has accepted me as their Binodini and that makes me feel very good indeed!