Beautiful - Aishwarya Rai Look Who’s Talking Bollywood Celebrity Talk Show Zee Café

She's a confirmed giggler, with a razor-sharp mind and the ability to out-talk anyone. She may be intimidating and unreachable to many, but to people who know Aishwarya Rai, she's very affectionate and warm. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you really for being on my show. I'm really excited about this one. Glad to come on board. I've always wanted to ask you this question ever since I've met you. I've seen you in various situations, at parties, I've seen you at home, and what I realised and what most people say about you is that you're very poised, you're very dignified, you're always in control. What's with the smirk? There's no smirk. These are well-earned. No, no. They are. So I always wondered, and I've always wanted to ask you this, is there ever a day when you wake up and you look into the mirror and you say, no Aishwarya, today you're having a bad hair day. Do you think one needs to reach a mirror for that? I mean, why does one have to wake up and go to the mirror and look and then get these feelings? It's as normal as every other person. Do you ever get that feeling? Because it doesn't seem like that at all. You're so pretty and you're always so poised. It's not meant to seem. The world is not supposed to catch on necessarily because of the given situations. But yeah, our lives are crazy, our schedules are crazy. We have no concept of day, night, and I guess the hour rolling into the next. And very often than not, it shows. And the mirror is within. It doesn't have to be on the outside. You exactly know what you're feeling like. You don't need to guess what you're looking like. But the point is you've got to pull your socks up and get on with the day and that's just the way it goes. So how do you do that? Where do you draw your strength from? Life's given us plenty of practice, plenty of practice. So I think the question of not wanting to even deal with it doesn't arise. You can, you can feel it. I mean, we're humans. So you do tend to sometimes, you know, the exhaustion catches up. But when it comes to say work in film, and I'm sure you've always heard creative people here, whether it's artists or technicians, we'd always say it's the excitement of the creative aspect that you're going to on the day that propels you. What's interesting though about my life is though I'm not born to this fraternity, but still, I just took to it like this was the most natural experience to happen to me. So I think comfort speaks volume. That itself, I think, naturally energizes you. You know, Manish Malhotra, he's a friend of ours, a common friend of ours. And he told me something very interesting about you. He said, you know, yeah, he said interesting under inverted commas, I really mean it. And he said, by far the most physically resilient person is Aishwarya. And he gave me an example. He said that when we went to shoot for Robot, Robot 2 Pichu, this is his favorite incident. So he was saying that she's physically resilient. And I was really surprised by that, because we were doing these terrains, which were very difficult. There were sand flies, which were biting us at all times. And yet she was wearing these costumes. And she was a trooper. You know, when one sees you, you look like a fragile beauty queen who needs protection. And then here's a side to hear about, which is like, you slipped in the beauty queen bit. Let's just sleep that number 8. Thanks. I would go on that a long time ago, but thanks. I don't mean it in terms of the title. I mean it in terms of somebody who's beautiful and looks like a queen. Can't argue with the writer in him, he'll be quicker than anyone around here. No, I've been told that I think it's all from within here. When it comes to strength, I've always been a mind over body person. When it comes to dealing with it every day, and I recognize that I think definitely working in this industry. Or probably slightly earlier. I was a science student. So when you're a science student in junior college, you're dealing with so much. Your days are really long. The education aspect is crazy. So in terms of the kind of hours that you put in, and then I went into architecture for a bit. So like you're dealing with projects, you're dealing with submissions. And I'd kind of started working on the side. So at 19, I was already probably doing the double shift in life. It was already crazy in terms of being nocturnal becomes part of your life. So it started early, and then it's become a way of life over the years. So when did this turning point happen from architecture to entertainment business? What was that moment? What was that experience that made you decide that, you know, architecture is something that I love so much, but... Actually, I've done everything two years after I was being invited to that aspect of my life. When I was in junior college, at the end of my 11th grade, there was an English professor in Jai Hind. She was also a photojournalist on the side, like a fashion journalist with magazines. So she asked me to do a fashion spread for her, and at one point I was like, uh-uh, no. Because you know when you're in college, there are all these college festivals. And later I met a lot of the people who used to then visit college and come around giving their cards and say, there's an audition happening here, or they're looking for the next big thing in different aspects of advertising. And I had always shunned all that. I never participated in any of the inter or intracollegiate fashion shows or whatever, photography competitions or state stuff, nothing. So from everyone's perspective in junior college, I was this really shy, really happy to be away from all these experiences kind of personality. And then bam! There they see me just go and do stuff professionally. And in fact, I got teased by a lot of my friends. They were like, so is this like the larger plan, that you only go professional, but not this kind of stuff? This like really amateur? And I'm like, no. There's no big plan to it. I just did this one, one which turned out to be two, because at that photo shoot, whatever they managed to get, they kind of made two or three features out of it, and the cover of one magazine. Again, I got into architecture. I was studying. I was asked for Miss India, Miss World, and all of that. I said Miss India, but I had said no for a year. So as a result, Miss World happened almost a year and a half after the industry was inviting me. And it was that experience, Miss World, the title Miss World, that kind of compelled me to have a semester off, because that happens in November. So suddenly when I came back, overnight, I was this celebrity, being felicitated and honored with the most wonderful homecoming and all of that. But the night before, I was a student. And then suddenly, you're like this celebrity. You had auditioned, if I'm not mistaken, for Raja Hindustani? I had an audition that Dharmesh himself is the character. Forget the fact that he'll audition anybody else, he's performing for you all the time already. So I was Aarti. And I'm like, I don't even know if I'm doing the movie. And he goes, Aarti. He called me Aarti for a bit, because we lived in the Kharbandra area, so there's certain common places, shops or whatever, that you run into each other, the video parlor, and where we get our movies from. So if I'm there with my mom, he'd be like, Aarti. That's my Aarti. That's you. And then he'd start, Raja, Raja, Raja, the scenes and everything. And I'm like, I don't know if I'm joining the movies. I don't know what's going to happen. So that's, in fact, I decided I have to at least firmly put out I'm not joining the movies, because I was very tempted at the time. It's like, yes, she used to say, you'll come and you will be designing my sets. From there, I'll bring you in front of the camera. No problem. Do that. Shekhar Kapoor wonderfully said, he said, look, I was also all about education. And I went and I worked and got my degree and I was in finance. But here I am making movies today. So do your thing. Complete your education. But this is where you're going to be. So there were different wonderful energies. What I did know deep down within, when you said, did you know you'd always be a movie star? No. But I did know that if I chose to do one, it could be a choice. It's not a walk in the park. It's not for a luck. For many years, I kept hearing words that if you really want to have a watertight contract, the prototype is Aishwarya's contract. Oh my God. This was something I kept hearing all the time from the ad world. Everybody used to say that she's just so precise and there's nothing that she doesn't think of. There's nothing that she's not taken care of. Honestly, that's not. See, I mean, we are made out of these, like as a constructor, everything goes. It's inherent. Really, it's not an effort. It's not something that I'm. It's not that I take everything so seriously to project seriousness. I'm the same person. When I say giggler, I can't remember because when people see the serious side, that's something that obviously people remember. But when there's a reference to the giggler, I still giggle. That's just who I am. Unfortunately, with the giggle, people kind of like to attribute flippant or airheaded. That's not necessary. And at the same time, when you are committed or you just have a God-gifted ability to be able to perceive, and if you can do that and perceive, if that exists, I'm sure you'll apply yourself. And I'm glad on it for me because that's the only way I know to work. And I'm glad because it kind of underlined the sense of working for me. I guess that's who I am and that's what working is for me. And it's the entire aspect of it. It's fully rounded. For those who didn't know, I used to sometimes faff I was running everything by a lawyer. Oh shoot, I should never have confessed. That doesn't happen today. But back then, I would faff the lawyer said. And there would be all these little handwritten notes and points and scratches and this. In fact, when I came into the film industry, when I started doing that, these guys again here, a lot of my senior producers would be like, Where? What planet did she come from? I mean, that doesn't exist. I mean, your handwritten stuff will not even hold water. So why? And I'll be like, I will not sign. I will still write my own little thing and initial it there on the side and then make all my little changes because either take the trouble to reprint it or it'll exist. I could just see the loopholes. So how can I sign on a document without seeing the stuff that I needed etched? There are actresses who have actually made a very successful transition from the 90s to the 2050s because a lot has changed. And it's changed much more rapidly in the last 10 years than it had before. Even your decisions, like for instance, it was perceived that an actress getting married at the peak of her career is detrimental. And yet you chose to do that. I wouldn't have had it any other way. It wasn't planned, but the way it's all worked out, it's absolutely after my heart. I mean, this is what I would have wanted to say in terms of my choices. I didn't dream I'd get married in the middle of a film, Aashu, honestly. That I didn't. It wasn't after my heart because it was kind of shocking. I was like, oh my God, here we're making a historical Jodhpur and there are sets. And suddenly, you know, we were getting married in April and the movie wasn't over. And we had to complete it before the rains came in. So that was kind of crazy, but I worked really hard in both aspects when it comes to personally planning the wedding between both families. I was kind of my wedding planner with my family and everything. From Karjat, I used to kind of drive down all the way daily, go to Juhu, sit with the family, drive back, come to Bandra again and again, sit all night, plan the wedding and 4.35 up again and out to Karjat and work. So it was, that kind of pattern exists in my life. It's always, the days are too short. Was the transition difficult for you initially? I already knew Ma and Pa, maybe Pa even more so because I'd worked with him. So that's something I did before I became family. And having become family, I haven't taken that for granted. I mean, you don't completely suddenly cease to see that or cease to recognize that. That remains. And Ma has contributed immensely as an actor, as an artist in all the movies she's done. You then discover living together, which is different from meeting on a set, but that whole story probably shaken me. You discover living together in a marriage, as opposed to just meeting as colleagues on a set, you know, it changes. Or you discover aspects of life and that's just the way it is. I did take a break then for family. I said, because I'm going to take a few months off, which was the first time ever in my career from the age of 19. I'd never taken a couple of months like that. It was about, I think, almost four, five months to embrace this transition in life. I had got married because I was still shifting from Bandra to Juhu forever. So I said, I'm kind of now shifting. And this is only, like, initially when someone says home, Bandra would still come to you, because you're suddenly still adjusting to Juhu, and especially in our lives, because you're not just staying home. We're up and about and working and running and traveling. So I gave that time out to embrace my reality. And that's what you did with Aaradhya as well. Absolutely. When she was going to be born, you really took time off from it. When motherhood happened, I recognized that it's me, and I was completely into it. I did not feel remotely like I'd cut out or cut away from showbiz or an aspect of it. I may not have been acting in front of the camera to a script. But when it comes to walking into a room with lights, doing interviews, doing my endorsements, walking into studios, most of whatever endorsements I did, the DOPs and the crew were people I'd always worked with. So it's not like I was suddenly interacting with an absolutely new bunch of people to feel cut away. From the fourth month, I was already doing appearances and a couple of photo shoots. Yeah, even in that size. That's another thing I wanted to ask about. Size was something that was spoken about a lot during that phase. Did it bother you? Evidently not, by the looks of it. I was blissfully doing my committee. This is my assignment. My brands, thank you all. Y'all have been superlative because you've actually spoken volumes for us women. Because it wasn't even a topic of conversation. So like I said, when you get to work with like-minded people, you get the opportunity to become that voice as well. And unintentionally, I kind of became the voice of stay real and keep it real, which is what I've always said. But life kind of aided that voice because of what was happening in my reality. I've always been comfortable in my skin, irrespective of what size. But the comfort became very obvious in this situation. People started recognizing it even more so now at this phase of my life. And a lot of women felt strengthened by it. And everybody was getting more and more comfortable in their skin because they could see that I was not giving in to the perception of showbiz. Again, genuinely happy, blissed out, loving every minute with my daughter. So you're very fiercely protective, one can see, about Aaradhya. And yet, what I found really interesting is that there are lots of pictures of her floating around. You're not so protective about her from the limelight. That's not a trait that I see very often among actors and their children. Especially in initial years, everybody wants to protect their child. Don't click a picture, know the picture should not come. But you're pretty easy about it. Initially, the world did read me as what you just said. What's me? Possibly because I've not left her till date a single night. So she travels and I take her with me wherever I go. Initially, there used to be even a crazier frenzy to get the first image and then to get every image at every stage. But invariably, when I was traveling at an airport or something, you see most of the images. My baby is sleeping. If she's asleep, it's a natural instinct to be protective, more than covering the face with the flashlights. And, you know, like the photographers have always explained, if their colleague gets a shot and they don't get a shot, then they kind of lose out in terms of showing their face professionally. So there's so much shorsharaba, everybody's screaming around. Poor chaps, they're walking backwards, tripping over each other. One pushes the other, trying to get pictures. They'll try and jump on your shoulder if they need to. I recognize that part in terms of the reality of my world. But my infant has just come into this world and is clueless, and I don't want that to be her only reality. She's my life, you know, so you naturally are just instinctively caring and protective and loving. To keep your child shut away, that would be silly. And in this day and age, even more so. I mean, everybody's a photographer because you walk around and everybody has a smartphone with a camera. You'd be fooling yourself if you believe that your child will not be seen or there'll be no pictures taken. Having said that, it's not about selfie time. It's not about thrusting your face. It's not about, oh, cool, look at the way this one has yawned or laughed or sneezed and so on and so forth. And I won't put up all that. I'll still be protective because there needs to be a sense of realism, you know. So Aishwarya, there's a big word called comeback attached to Jasbaa which is going to release in a week. And in a sense, perhaps it's justified because you have almost taken a five-year break between your last film and Jasbaa. So how did it feel? Like, did you feel like you had to prepare yourself because you had sort of lost touch with that part of your life because you were immersed in motherhood and you were immersed in the family life? Some truths in what you've just, I mean, answers within your question but some not, in the sense that when you said that, did I feel I had left a certain aspect of my life? You know, there may have been a time before, I'm assuming, when people maybe took a maternity break or career break. It was a break. Probably actors only made movies. My story, firstly, has never been singular in terms of showbiz. From the very beginning, it's been endorsements and movies and social work and international presence and events and performances. It's all been so mixed up. It was just one aspect of that mixed bag that didn't continue soon after motherhood. The rest of the mixed bag continued. Movie making didn't continue. And that little piece came back to complete the picture. This year, for me, after Aradhiya turned three, and I'm so glad on the subject, the filmmaker that I chose, it couldn't have been a better experience. I mean, Sanjay himself is such a cool guy, such a wonderful energy to work with. I mean, initially, I kept teasing him. I said, you're like this testosterone director, man. I'm like, you're coming to work with, I'm not a chick chick, but, you know, you're going to be coming on working with me. I don't know what you're prepared for. And this is a wonderful film because as we read the script, it was about, this was our dream cast. We both spoke aloud and we thought about Irfan. We could see Shabana ji. We could see this cast as we read the script. He mentioned Chandran. I was like, bang on. He works perfectly. Atul Kulkarni. We were like, yeah, perfectly. And when it was first Anupam ji, Jaggu sir came in, we were like, perfect. It just kind of all fell in place so well on paper that going to set was serious. It's a very important story. When you'll see it, you will know that it's a story, while it's a thriller, it speaks about things of major importance. And when you see it, you'll discover it, but all through being thrilling. So this was very easy and natural to me. And I'm so happy I came on board. The word comeback, there's no running away from it. I've been aware of it. I've been more than made aware of it. It'll be documented as the comeback film. Having said that, I'll still say, what comeback? I didn't go anywhere. Exactly, and it's been quite a comeback because it's not just Jazba. Immediately after Jazba, you're going to get into Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. And then there's going to be Saram ji. And guess who's home on Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. We are really working together. I'm really looking forward to it. And then there's Saram ji as well. So, I mean, suddenly to jump into so many films. I think it's a wonderful mix. It will be perfectly paced out again because that's me. But I still know at the same time I'll be... It's... I think there's a reason Sandhya put that kind of poster out. Yes, you're running. That's my life. It's been for the longest time. It's always been a race against time. That's my story. And that's the way it's going to continue being. So I guess it's all good. If that's just the way life continues, it's all good. So Aishwarya, this is a segment on the show where we give a chance to your fans to own something that you have owned before. So please tell us what have you got for us today? There are so many things I could have shared. But I just thought of something meaningful. Sorry, it's not about being quirky or being fun. But this definitely is impactful. And I thought this is a wonderful book. I'm Malala. I have just read this. And I think this is a book that should definitely be read. So you'll have to sign this for the person. What we'll do is that we'll put this up on the website. And people can buy it from there. And the proceeds of that will go to charity. So we just need you to sign for whoever is going to win this. So now is the vanity moment of the show for me. I'm going to click my selfie. So this is a game that we play with our viewers. You have to make three statements out of which two will be truths and one will be a lie. And the viewers have to guess which one is a lie. Okay. So make your three statements. This is going to be a dead giveaway. The fact that I'm going to be sitting and thinking around here. But anyways, okay. I'm a foodie every morning. I start my day with sweets. I end my day with sweets. And the spice is going down as easily with me. So I'm an absolute foodie. I get up every morning and weigh myself. And I really am into a really strict exercise regime. I am very easy when it comes to dressing. It's all about comfort for me because that's imperative. And the lie is that I don't get up in the morning and weigh myself. I hardly ever step on the scale and look in that direction. And I really wish I exercised everyday. Or at least started. Probably you guys have heard me say this for years. But still working on it. Still working on it. So now the segment which I call the quick five. Where I'll ask you five questions. And you have to answer them as quickly as possible. Okay. What is the one word that you have learnt from Aaradhya? Since small. When she first started saying no, she'd go, no. Like the little sing song. And then I kind of kept doing that with her. So yeah. It's a unique way to say no. What are you and Abhishek most likely to fight about? Hmm. I can't be that quick on that. And I intend it. Which is the movie that you saw last? It's, I think because of paucity of time. Oh man, an actor shouldn't be saying this. But yeah, it's been more TV shows recently. Which is the film of any actress that you've seen in the recent past which has impressed you? You know, actors like Meryl Streep, Kate Blanchett. Eddie Reinger? They're just, we hear of all our veterans. I mean there's so many performances that you can rule out. So I guess I'll be sitting here again forever. Any one suddenly? Yeah, I'll be sitting here forever. Okay. Do you remember your first on-screen dialogue or line? Yes. There was a joke between Maniratnam and me. It was for Iruvar. So it's going to be a Tamil word. And I said, I think if I remember the word was pesan. That is, I want to speak. And Mani and me till date look at each other and crack up. I said, I haven't stopped since. He said, so you said you want to speak and you haven't stopped. We both laugh about that. Did it ever bother you that you were marrying another actor? Because normally what happens is the two actors come together. It's a bit of a, sort of a clash. And here you were entering a family which was full of actors. Did all of this ever bother you? I didn't quite think all that through. No, this is pure humour. Our parents believe this and we've always believed this that it's not just two individuals getting married. So when it comes to the marriage, it's not just two individuals. It's the families that come together. And you embrace each other's family as your own. So you just literally, you believe you're extending your own family. I mean, really, I didn't feel I was marrying into a new or a different family. Within the homes, the attitude is, you know, these are actors or dadaji, he's been an author, he's been a writer. And my father has been a marine engineer and mum has been a homemaker and a teacher. So while all this is recognised, it's not necessarily trusting each other's space. So probably that's why Abhishek and me are always instantly comfortable. And that's probably because of our roots. Not probably, definitely because of our roots. You're not on any social platform. You're not on Twitter, you're not on Facebook. Don't you ever feel the need, especially for someone who says that you want to set the record right and make sure that people don't misunderstand what you have said or what you mean? When social media first started taking flight, I just started feeling people were kind of getting a bit lost in it to begin with. For a lot of people, it became a barometer of popularity. That's not something that I wanted to partake in. Truth is, it's a wonderful medium and it is to share your opinion. But like I said, at the same time, it can be exceedingly intrusive, but make the choices. Because I feel a lot of people feel sometimes almost compelled into giving an opinion on everything, because if not, then they're not keeping pace with the rest of the ilk. It's not necessary. You really don't have to photograph your empty plate after eating and you really don't have to get into, Oh, what a lovely meal last night. And so on and so forth, to keep updating, to be so cool that I'm so together and I'm connected. It's wonderful to stay connected with the world, but not the cost of sitting across you and not connecting to you. And that's happening. I mean, now people talk about it more and more. Now there are little videos also going around where they'll see people at a table and everybody's on that. But that's a reality. It's not even a joke. And that's offensive. You'll be on this chat and that chat and this group chat and that chat and Instagram and Snapchat. And I'm like, it's the same group of people. Why do you need to do it on all these little dots? Just exhale and connect in front of each other's faces. Communicate. Eye contact. Thank you so much, Aishwarya. It was really wonderful talking to you and there's so much that you spoke and so patiently answered all my questions. It should well be two episodes. Yes, it could be. This is a beach and it's a beach station. Don't call me a beast, horror. Yeah, so I can go and lose this, drop it. I know our history. All my friends are going to be very envious of this one. A selfie. Aishwarya ma'am, good to go? Yes. Okay. Good to go is a tricky line. Just kidding.