The best Ash interview yet

by: Lata Khubchandani
- mid-day.com


Over the span of a decade, I’ve interviewed Aishwarya Rai on various facets of herself. Here I reproduce her take on herself which is interesting because it so closely matches what others say about her.

It shows that she doesn’t suffer from any great illusions about herself but neither is she being unduly modest.

Now that she enters a new phase of life, one can see that she probably will enjoy domesticity as much as she enjoys celebrityhood if she’s given a chance to play housewife.

It is amply clear that she gives her best shot to most things she does and one assumes she’ll do the same to her new role as wife and homemaker...

I was not perfect

I was not a terribly naughty child, rather, disciplined and normal. I always did my work and was a good student.

I was into most activities, academic and extra curricular. I learnt dance and music for five years and I love to sing and dance though I never had my arangetram.

I used to top in my studies and always took that for granted. I was a regular student, but not too perfect as people think, yet I wasn’t the sort who was punished or shaken up either.

Even as a child I enjoyed dancing and that’s why I find it easy now that I’m in films. As a child I used to follow mummy into the kitchen and I learned the basics of cooking just by watching her. So I can cook and sew and iron — things which people find boring.

I love ironing and stitching

I’m not one of these ‘Angrezi’ types who doesn’t know how to handle herself in the kitchen. I love ironing and stitching — I find these therapeutic, though I don’t get to do them much. I enjoy them.

I always had a lot of friends. I always loved music, to listen to and sing and till today if I’m free I’d switch on a music channel rather than anything else.

As a kid everyone called me a doll and raved about my looks but I never did think it was anything special. I always felt happier if I did well in my studies.

I was into most extra curricular activities in school; except for sports, I enjoyed most things.

After school I started modelling while still in my teens so that left little time for other things. I loved to dance and even before I modelled I had the sort of body language that models have.

I used to be teased for posing but truly it was very natural to me to walk with a swing or use my hands in a certain way.

While a student I was sure that I’d get into medicine because everything about science and the human body fascinated me.

But slowly, I realised that to like a subject and making it a career are two vastly different things.

I also enjoyed the arts so I got into architecture. I was earning quite early in life and my perceptions of life have been very adult so that has made me a sort of child woman quite early.

My interactions with people have always been on a very grounded level. I was good in academics and in other co-curricular activities too. Mostly because I did generally put my best into whatever I did.

As a child and a teenager I used to get a second look wherever I went but I’d got so used to this that I never really took it seriously.

The greatest high for me would be when I topped the class. Like I remember the greatest disappointment was when I didn’t top in the 10th standard after having become so used to getting a rank. It made me realise the value of it.

Life after winning Miss World

Miss World happened to me and I realised that I’m in exactly the correct profession. I take every experience as a learning experience and I’m enjoying acting very much.

Consciously and subconsciously I’ve adopted this mode — that of studentship. I think I’ve always been before my time, not only now but even as a teenager — my interactions with people, my wants and desires were all more mature than others my age — I was never frivolous.

I’m not saying I’m oh so drab and grey. I’m a dreamer but I can’t help it if I believe eight out of 10 times that I have been quite perceptive and God has given me that knack.

At times it seems that life would be a little easier if we were a little dim about things or a little blind so we could drift through life without seeing too much too clearly. I think it has something to do with ones upbringing and immediate surroundings and the sum total of all one’s experiences.

If acting hadn’t happened I’d have gone through life in a routine way but I’m glad acting did happen because I realise I’m not cut out for routine.

As I was a good student I’d immediately have enrolled for some professional course so that’s what my life would have been too.

My acting ability has actually helped me to keep some kind of a balance. And yet never have I felt like a failure — nor am I carried away by praise, adulation and success.

Audiences felt that my failure to make the box office tinkle was a sign of failure but I was willing to listen to constructive criticism always having been a willing student.

I was definitely listening — I was all ears but I was able to see the difference between constructive criticism and just brickbats — and I was able to discern, this thanks to the confidence of my directors and fans. I was already interacting with audiences because I was seen as a star due to my Miss World status.

I’ve been asked often how all the attention I get feels like, and I cannot deny that I’ve always had a lot of attention — perhaps that’s why it has worked as a boon. Instead of making me bigheaded — it’s worked in a contrary fashion in that I don’t feel anything at all.

I’m not conceited at all. Attention — the horizons of which cannot be gauged — it could be within the four walls of your house or your street, your city, your country your world - what you can only experience is those two eyes looking at you at any point of time. That could affect you adversely, positively or anyway. Now that attention I’ve had all my time. I know it’s there, I’m made aware of it, but I don’t necessarily experience it all the time. Except perhaps on stage. Right from childhood I’ve received that extra glance but honestly it’s never become an issue.

I’ve never understood why I’ve been called 'cold'

It may be that the image I present appears cold. Most people, once they’ve met me, do discard that opinion but I’ve decided that there must be something about me which makes people say I’m cold and mysterious and difficult to understand.

On the contrary, I’ve always loved being with people so there’s this ambivalence but instead of trying to decipher it, I’ve decided to sit back and enjoy it.