‘I’ve swum against the tide all alone’

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has little time for a breather these days as she is neck deep into the promotions of her upcoming film Jazbaa that is being called her “comeback”. But if there is one thing the actress is absolutely certain about, it is that the film is anything but. Sitting in a suburban five-star hotel in Mumbai, looking very relaxed in a pair of black trousers and a crisp white shirt, Ash tells us how she has had no breather all day because of the promotions.

Looking at her, it’s hard to tell though. She elaborates on why she doesn’t see the film as some sort of a return vehicle. “I wouldn’t call it a comeback as such because a working mother doesn’t realise how time flies. Being in showbiz, because of the multi-faceted lives we lead today, we don’t actually go anywhere. My endorsement duties were on as were my social work commitments. Those never really had a break. As an artiste, it’s always like fish to water — once an artiste, always an artiste,” says Aishwarya.

She reveals how amused she would be with the various timelines people had about her “comeback”. “When Jazbaa started, everyone said, ‘you are here after three years’ because Aaradhya had turned three and they related it to that. But six months into my pregnancy I was still working. Then right before going to Cannes, someone told me, ‘You are surfacing after five years’ and I was shocked. And they said yes, because it’s not about when Guzaarish released, it’s from when you stopped shooting for the film.”

It was since Aaradhya was three-and-a-half months old, Ash says, that she went back to her endorsements, she even joined the United Nations and soon after made her appearances at Cannes.

I’m grateful I have an audience’

“One thing followed another. I was meeting directors in the very first year Aaradhya was born. But then you listen to scripts, okay them, while dealing with motherhood, discovering something every day,” she adds. Ash being the international figure that she is, one comparison that immediately comes to mind is that of Angelina Jolie, who had also switched back to work mode after she had her twins. Angelina had resumed acting with the thriller Salt, and Ash too has gone for a similar genre. However, that was not part of the plan, she reveals. Mani Ratnam’s film that she is also in talks for, was supposed to roll first.

“That was supposed to happen last year in fact. Recently, Mani and I met and he said, ‘I know in the heart of hearts you are saying, ‘thank God this was not my first one’. Mani’s hours are very different. I had agreed but it would be challenging in terms of how a day rolls out. Sanjay (Gupta) is a father to a four-year-old and a two-year old. If I wanted to communicate something I knew that Sanjay would genuinely understand. He’s also a very invested parent.”

When asked what physical preps she took for the role, Ash says she gets asked this a lot. “But I really haven’t been working out much. Aaradhya keeps me so busy, I really have no time to watch films either.”   

Much has been said about how involved a parent Ash is and nothing changed even after she resumed films. “Aaradhya has been as much a part of my life as I have been of hers.” The little one has been obviously getting a lot of media attention and Ash reveals that time and again she does get curious about it. Now that she is three, she’s full of questions. “When she asks me about work, I tell her that I’m going to office. Then she asks ‘Which office?’ I tell her Janak office (the Bachchan bungalow), which is right behind our house. On some days, I say bus (vanity van) office. From the time they are two-and-a-half, children have such a growth spurt. Every week you feel, she’s so much more older than what she was last month. I even try to get ready with her.”

The actress is also well aware of the advantages of her work situation as compared to those of an average working mother. “Yes, I know a lot of mothers would feel I’m lucky that I can blur the lines in my so-called office space. And that is true, as that’s the only reason I’m working simultaneously, else I would have taken a longer break.” Even during her shoots, duties never took a backseat. “I have been raised very normally and it will be the same for Aaradhya. So I would take her to my trailer but not to the sets. Most times, they were real locations that are not necessarily the safest places to take a child too,” says the actress.

Busy times have just begun for Ash. Besides Mani Ratnam’s film, she also has Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. “Karan has always been a friend and we were just looking for the right time to work together. I loved what I heard of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. This October is Pa’s birthday and three days later I’m off to shoot for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.”

Speaking of Pa, Mr Amitabh Bachchan shows no signs of slowing down, we point out. “He is a superstar but today he is family for me, he is my Pa, that too for long enough — I’ve not been married a month! He naturally evokes respect and admiration. It’s just to be respected, you can’t bracket it,” Aishwarya says.
Even though she has a bunch of projects in hand, there’s no plan chalked out in her mind. She stresses on the fact that it has always been like that with her. “At the start of my career, I could have chosen a typical film to flag things off, you know being Miss World and having a modelling background. But I chose Iruvar to break preconceived notions. I did not do a South film because I didn’t have options.

The film was not even all about me. It had two male protagonists. I have always tried to shake things up a bit. That time, there wasn’t so much opportunity but there’s a lot more today. I worked in Raincoat and Choker Bali after Devdas. So again, it was not like I was doing regional cinema because I was sitting jobless. With that kind of success, you are flooded with offers but I enjoyed that kind of cinema as an artiste and I wanted it to reach a wider audience. Today people mention these films. Provoked is talked about on global platforms and it makes me smile, as this is the change I was working for. At that time there wasn’t so much exhibition for these films but eventually they found markets.

They may not be part of hundred crore clubs but they turned out to be sound investments,” she says. So, to what extent has motherhood influenced her choice of projects? “Playing a mother onscreen would now have an element of truth in it. We always say experience is the best teacher. You can’t be dead to play dead but as an actor you try to bring that reality to the role.

Playing the role of a parent today, a lot of emotions would come with a lot of truth as opposed to earlier. But no, motherhood hasn’t altered the kind of films I want to do. Now that I think of it I could have played it safe in terms of how my career panned out, but everything has been but that. I have not had comfortable aspects to lean on in terms of what the industry can reassure a female lead, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Every film is an experience and we can only hope viewers take the experience back home.”

If Ash was a regular presence in Hollywood until a few years ago, now Priyanka Chopra seems to ruling the roost in the West. So, is PC competition now? “It’s great that Indian talent is being recognised on a global platform and this is something we should be proud of, instead of pitting one against the other.”

There was also a stir in Hollywood not too long ago when it was insinuated that actresses in their 30s are too old to play love interests. Without commenting on a parallel scenario or the lack of it in Bollywood, Ash says, “Speaking for myself, people will invest in working with me because I don’t know any crore clubs, I don’t fall into stereotypes of what films are box office successes. I’m grateful I have an audience; filmmakers want to work with me. In fact, I’m continuously fighting for time to work with them. I have producers who want to invest in me. That is the truth I focus on. And I have swum against the tide all alone.”