‘I should have been more fierce’
Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan says that she has often “walked away” from big films due to her adherence to schedules, and that it is something she hopes changes soon. The actor says she should have been more ‘fierce’ in her career planning.
“The fact that I’ve been very schoolgirlish in my choices, I was good at keeping with schedules... I’ve walked away from some big film opportunities because I was being very sincere to schedules,” she says, adding, “Now, when I look back I feel I should have been more fierce and aggressive with wanting films and roles, and allowing the schedules to figure out themselves, as I see a lot of my colleagues worked over the years.”
Aishwarya does not regret her approach as she believes there are so many stories to be told and enough work in films to do. “When I took a break with Aaradhya and even now, I get asked, ‘Why don’t we see more of you?’ Yes, I want to do more films. I have been a little easy on my time planning. I have happily played mummy to Aaradhya and thrown work around here and there. Even now when I am offered a good script, I feel like doing but then I think, ‘Let me take one more holiday this month. I will do the next one (film)’. I think this attitude needs to change,” she says.
This year, Aishwarya’s name came up for three projects, one of which is Jasmine, to be written by Shree Narayan Singh, the director of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017). “When I heard the script of Jasmine, I asked them to rewrite it. So, it depends on what they do with it. It got announced before I even heard it. Let’s see where that goes,” she adds.
Recently, for her 17th appearance at the Cannes Film Festival the actor received rave reviews for her sartorial choices.