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‘I’VE BEEN A VERY NORMAL MOTHER’
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on her parenting style, and how she doesn’t believe the compliments she gets
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is one celebrity who doesn’t make noise about the good deeds she regularly does. But, recently, when the NGO she supports — Smile Train — celebrated 5,00,000 surgeries of kids born with a cleft, she chose to use the occasion to urge people to help the kids. We got talking.
How did you get associated with Smile Train?
Almost a decade ago, they approached me to talk about their work. I am so pleased with my decision to give momentum to it. To work with people who help kids born with a cleft is a blessed opportunity. I already had the Aishwarya Rai Foundation, through which I had been supporting causes. We joined hands to help these children. I never felt the need to announce what we did through my foundation until recently. With social media, the world is becoming smaller. Information, if channelised positively, can be effective. So I chose to mark these contributions after actualising possibly 100 surgeries at a time as by doing so you have the ability to influence people, who are listening, to contribute to changing a child’s life.
Is it tough, dealing with media attention all the time? Things got a bit out of hand on your dad’s birthday last November...
It’s tough to explain. I understand what was happening at that moment — the media wanted bytes and photos. But several kids and their parents were in the room with not enough space. While I am familiar with the way things function, these kids and their parents are not used to dealing with such excitement and got startled [with the media’s behaviour]. That’s when I spoke up. I knew the next day the headlines would be ‘Aishwarya got upset’. I’ve never been one to blame anybody and I don’t. I try to appeal to the humane nature of people in times like that.
You’ve always got adulation for your beauty. Do you feel the pressure to look a certain way?
Compliments have always made me shy and I have cultivated an ability to graciously say ‘thank you’. But, I don’t quite completely believe them. That’s the way I can embrace the normal in life. On-camera looks are about the character, and off-camera, about the event. There’s no question of any pressure.
There’s already buzz about your next movie Fanne Khan, costarring Anil Kapoor...
I am a chapter in the film, not the fulcrum. There are other talents in the story and you will see why I chose to do the film once it releases. I am working with Anil for the third time and though I want to call him Anilji, he insists I call him Anil (smiles). He is such a dedicated and ever-charged artiste.