Newsmaker

Ash to fire
May 28 was a very crucial day for all ex-beauty queens, present beauty queens, the beauty queens to come and the many models getting set to conquer the world. The gorgeous ex-Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, finally smashed an age-old myth to smithereens. She proved that a beauty queen or a model could not only act but emerge as one of the best actresses in the world/universe. She proved she was the best when she won three major awards at the Zee Gold Bollywood Awards 2000 at the prestigious Nassau Coliseum in New York. She thrilled the thousands who packed the Coliseum each time she walked up to receive her three awards. She won the best actress award of the year. She next won the best actress in a sensational role in Subhash Ghai’s Taal and finally she walked up amidst thunderous applause to receive the most difficult award, the award decided by a group of hardened critics from different parts of the world for her sensitive, delicate and gorgeous performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

Earlier, she had wowed the audience in India when she won the best actress award, first the SCREEN-VIDEOCON Award, her first ever and then at several other awards functions held in different parts of the country. And so Aishwarya had done what no one could think of or imagine in these times when there is such a shortage of good actresses. The cynics still saw nothing in her but that night she stunned them all. She opened their eyes wide open and left their tongue speechless. They had to hand it over to her even when she was pitted against the proved, seasoned, time-tested and world-renowned Shabana Azmi and Shabana’s ever-so-talented niece, Tabu.....

For years almost everyone believed and almost made it an unwritten rule that beauty queens and models could only look beautiful, could only stand out and run round some trees which seemed to be the only competition they had to face. There were so many queens and models who came to films, made a bow, smiled, sang a few songs and ran round several trees with all kinds of heroes and had a good time all the way till the good times lasted. They ruled for a while and then faded away because they just didn’t know what that precious thing called acting was. They had no command over the range of emotions that go into the making of a good or even an ordinary actress. They had no feel for feelings. All they were worried were how they were made to look and how they ultimately looked. These girls failed to show any signs of making it as actresses even though some were given time and inspiration. And very soon the ruthless industry made it an unwritten rule that these queens and models were okay to decorate the screen but that they were absolutely no good when it came to serious acting.

They instantly and ruthlessly applied this unwritten rule to Aishwarya, the beauty who had brought so much honour to the country by being crowned Miss World. She said she was game to act in Hindi films. The filmmakers were a little hesitant but some of the more risky ones like Rahul Rawail and Mani Ratnam decided to take the risk if not for her acting prowess then atleast for her status, her standing which gave their films a glow. Aishwarya, however, seemed determined. She was not going to be just another beauty queen, a model, a mannequin, she proved with her very first film. She could act. She was much better than some of the ruling actresses in the South. Some of her films failed miserably at the box-office but Ash was not willing to be reduced to ash. She wanted to rise from the ash (for which she was not responsible) like a phoenix and made that her only strength. It took her very little time to master the art of acting. She could look amazingly beautiful, she could dance like very few actress-dancers could in the last so many years. She was a typical Mumbaite who could speak Hindi and who was intelligent enough to pick up the nuances of even the most difficult poetry or dialogue in Urdu. She was magic before the camera (advantage plus) and soon all the best directors were outside her humble Khar apartment. They all wanted her. She couldn’t say yes to them all. She was surprised at her own status which she had earned in such a short time. She was astounded when big names like Rishi Kapoor wanted her for his first ever film, and Rahul Rawail for his ambitious film which he made with music by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for the first time. She reached the peak of her demand when the showman, Subhash Ghai, who was very particular about his artistes’ acting abilities signed her to play a delicate but difficult role in Taal.

Aishwarya more than lived up to the showman’s expectations. And later was loved and carried on the shoulders of every filmgoer. They had finally found a heroine who could come anywhere near Madhuri who ruled unquestioned, unparalleled for fifteen long years. She kept up her taal (rhythm) in film after "selected" film and came up with her best in her first innings in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. She was offered one of the best roles modern day heroines could get and she made the best of it. Her performance surprised Bhansali, the director of HDDCS, himself. And soon all those who saw Hum Dil... which was a very big hit were surprised with Aishwarya’s brilliance and all those who saw HDDCS were surprised by the growth of the ex-beauty queen into one of the most fascinating actresses of our time. She is now a habitual heart-stealer. At one of the awards Shabana Azmi who is a habitual award-winner and who was in the competition with Ash was not even considered as competition for Aishwarya, they say. She won the award for the best actress from Shabana, hands down. Ash is the genuine queen today both when it comes to beauty and more when it comes to talent which is a very big surprise.

Aishwarya, naturally, is now being faced by a series of challenges which she has promised her mother and all her other admirers to fulfill. Her greatest talent comes in her own "guru’s" Devdas in which she has been selected to play Paro and Madhuri Dixit who was the unanimous choice of all those who thought of the film was sure to be selected to play Paro was selected to play Chandramukhi. Aishwarya has already started taking her challenge seriously. She has started living parts of the life of Paro in her daily life, it is said. If this is not determination mingled with devotion I don’t know what it is. And if all goes well and if Devdas and all the films Aishwarya has chosen after a geat deal of serious thought work out in her favour 2000 will have a reason to be proud of - Aish-warya Rai, ex-Miss World, now out to rule the world of Hindi films.

APJ