Hindustan Times (Gurugram) - Hindustan Times (Gurugram) - City
‘My thirst to be part of good cinema has grown’
She isn’t known as one of the most beautiful women in the world for nothing. Each time Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is on screen, she lights up the frame. And while she takes pride in that, the actor in her doesn’t wish to be the centre of attraction in every frame in a film. “My thirst to be a part of good cinema has definitely grown. But my attitude has remained the same — that of always searching for work where I had the opportunity to grow, learn and contribute as an actor,” she says, and goes on to explain, “I think I made that very obvious by choosing Iruvar to begin my career with. I was making multiple statements by that first choice that said that here I was willing to work in subjects that is not just all about Aishwarya, even though that was going to be my first film as there were major expectations after winning Miss World. Doing a film in a regional language, not because you are out of work but because you want to. I was making it obvious
that I was not insecure to work in a huge canvas with such fine actors. I don’t need to be the apparent cynosure of all eyes.”
Though she took a break after her daughter Aaradhya was born in 2011, the actor’s criteria, in terms of choosing a role, remained the same. “In so many years my attitude of being a very liberated actor remains the same. Nothing changes there, not even after Aaradhya. It grows in terms of the impactful opportunity and Sarbjit displays that. To choose a character like this ... on a humanitarian ground, I was sold. Today, when I am seeing the response that the film evoked, I recognise its importance. Acting is very technical but in this film, I have done it from my soul.”