ALL SET TO RULE
It seems like she has all but taken over! The new Empress seems to all but take over the throne especially if Mr Nene came in and took away Empress Dixit away. Empress Dixit however says she will still act in some of the best roles but she has made it very clear that she has no claims to the throne.

And no one can deny that all the other actresses have all but surrendered to Aishwarya Rai, the beauty who is slowly becoming a big challenge and sleep-stealer for many other beauties. And so have the filmmakers and cinegoers. Hail! “Aishwarya, the new Empress of Indian cinema” shout in a chorus and Aishwarya just blushes, bows and vows to work harder not just because of the throne but because she wants to be known as one of the best actresses, a target she has aimed at with all her determination and “these girls from Mangalore are known for their determination to make their decisions succeed (opinion - Sunil Shetty, also from Mangalore)”.

Aishwarya smashed the well-known myth to smithreens when she proved that beauty queens couldn’t act. She proved that she could not only act but could be one of the best actresses anywhere in the world. Her best time started with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. She was fascinating in films like Aa Ab Laut Chalen, Taal and Josh (one of the best female performances in recent months). She had conquered. She could only go from conquest to more conquest, from one peak to another. Aishwarya is just about to cross one of the most precarious peaks with Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai with Anil Kapoor as her leading man. She says she finds it extremely difficult to talk about her role in the film.

All she knows is that she has worked very hard and has done very well, an opinion shared by the entire unit of Boney Kapoor’s film unanimously.
The film has hardly been seen by a handful of people and they have not stopped going ga ga over her glorious performance in a film which is difficult for an actress because a film like this specially needs an actress to perform, perform to perfection. She tries her best not to listen to their praises, their applause, but she can’t because by now the volume of the applause has risen to bursting point. Aishwarya is very modest about all the roles that she has done till now but I have never found her as modest as she is when she talks about her performance in Hamara Dil.... However, I managed to make her say a few lines about her most-talked about role till another one comes (which I am sure will come). She talks in her soft, soothing and still thinking voice and you feel like listening to her again and again. So, here goes...

You have faced the whole world and not felt nervous. How do you feel now when you face the release of your new film?
It’s not nervousness exactly but excitement with almost borders on the nervy. I was not so insecure in the initial stages because I was not sure if I will make it as an actress. Now that this benevolent industry has accepted me I feel it is my duty to give it the best. That’s why I work very very hard these days. I select a very few films and put in the efforts that sometimes surprise me, myself. There are times when I feel that the efforts I put in one film could be the efforts that I could have put in six other films.

How much have you grown as an actress.
I started off with the belief that there is no stopping for the growth of an actress. But I am growing better with every film by the grace of God. I came here just to try it out. I am here for good now. There is no way I can run out and I am very happy about it because I am happy about what I am doing and what they are allowing me to do and the great expectations they have from me and I expect to fulfill.

What were your ideas about the industry initially? What are your ideas now?
In the beginning it was only what I had read in all those magazines and heard wild stories from friends. Now I am in, something I had never even dreamt of and I am loving everything about it even its ups and downs. It’s a great world, believe me.

What do you think of the unit of Hamara Dil...?
Every member of the unit was great. We were all like one team. Boney Kapoor, if you ask me, is one of the best producers I have worked with till now. I don’t know how the man finds the energy and the resources to run his company and run it with style. I was thrilled when he signed me for his film. I can still feel the thrill when I think of it.

What do you expect from a film like Hamara Dil...?
The world. It’s a beautiful subject. It has something good for everyone working in the film and it has something very very good for all those who will see the film because these are the kind of films which are in vogue today. It is surprising to see that even 15 and 16-year- old boys and girls who hated seeing hindi socials now flock to theatres to see these films. I hope they flock to see Hamara Dil... too.

Don’t you think you are very lucky that you are working with some of the best directors in the country?
Lucky? I feel blessed. How does one describe the feeling when you are working with directors like Subhash Ghai, Sanjay Bhansali, Mani Ratnam, Abbas-Mustan and Satish Kaushik. I had never ever imagined that I would be sitting next to them and now I am working with them very closely in some of their best films. What more could I ask for?

How do you feel when you, the one-time Miss World, are sometimes treated like a Kinder Garten child learning her first lessons?
I came into films as a Kinder Garten child. So where is the question of minding being treated as a Kinder Garten child. It is just the beginning, the KG, it is from here that I hope to rise higher. Any actress who wants to grow into a good actress will have to be treated like a Kinder Garten child in the beginning. It is these actresses who ultimately make it to the big time. That is what I have experienced in other actresses. Let me see what happens in my case.

How do you take all the gossip that is filled in all the gossip magazines especially when it comes to you?
I knew this would come when I joined the industry. I am always prepared for it. I have stopped taking these things seriously because I have seen some of the most atrocious things appearing in these magazines, some of them about me too. I have stopped minding about them. They mind their business and I mind mine.

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