It may be a politically incorrect to say it, but actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s striking beauty has often distracted audiences from scrutinising how well she played her roles on the big screen. Her name often triggers remarks such as “isn’t she too pretty to look shabby?” or “radiant but inert” and some five years ago the former Miss World was cruelly mocked for not losing her pregnancy weight fast enough.
Pictures of her with a double chin soon after the birth of her daughter Aaradhya were reviewed more closely than her body of work.
As Rai Bachchan, 41, ends her five-year sabbatical with director Sanjay Gupta’s thriller Jazbaa, out in the UAE this Thursday, let’s fight the instinct to discuss her ethereal looks and instead talk about her filmography — which has been deified and derided in equal part.
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)
OK, we promised not to dwell on her beauty. But this is a romance that called upon her to look unattainable and alluring. In this grand romance, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she played Nandini, a Gujarati woman who’s torn between her charming lover (Salman Khan) and the dutiful husband (Ajay Devgn) chosen by her parents. She nailed the good-girl-gone-supergood role. Even her initial simpering lady act (giggles and the works) was tolerable as she topped it up with a searing portrayal of a woman trapped in a loveless arranged marriage. Feminists may argue that the film was regressive as she chose to finally stay with a husband whom she barely knew, but this romance still crackles if you don’t take it too seriously.
Guru (2007)
Wondered if Rai Bachchan can ever look unglamorous and pedestrian? Look no further than Guru, a drama directed by veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam. Loosely based on the Indian business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani’s rise to power, Rai played Sujata, a small-towner who quietly supported her husband’s endeavours. She may not have looked like a runway model in this one, but we loved her for attempting to break out of her glamorous avatar.
Dhoom 2 (2006)
When it came to style and swagger, nobody could have done it better than Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom 2. Both looked divine, but Rai Bachchan faltered when it came to playing the sultry siren Sunheri. Dialogues that called her on to be sexy fell flat.
Khakhee (2004)
Khakhee was a testosterone-charged thriller about policemen and their attempts to transport a sinister terrorist to a prison. Rai Bachchan managed to stand tall in this one. Despite having a miniscule role in a film filled with talented actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Atul Kulkarni and Akshay Kumar, the former Miss World managed to engage and surprise viewers.
Bride and Prejudice (2004)
Bollywood met British literature in this one as director Gurinder Chaddha transplanted Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett from Jane Austen’s celebrated novel Pride and Prejudice into the modern day. Lizzie became Lalita (Rai Bachchan) and the inscrutable Darcy became an American businessman with hopes of setting up luxury hotels in India (Martin Henderson). It may seem like a flop-proof project, but somehow the thrill of a chaste romance was missing in this one. The sparring between Darcy and Elizabeth sounded shrill and contrived; and the deliberate Bollywood-isation (inserting lavish song and dance sequences) of the revered romance was hardly thrilling. This film seemed to be a classic case of the director being overwhelmed or distracted by Rai Bachchan’s looks.
Devdas (2002)
This could be Rai Bachchan’s splashiest film to date with its razzle-dazzle and soul-stirring melodrama. This doomed love story between Paro, played to porcelain perfection by Bachchan, and Devdas, played with painful intensity by Shah Rukh Khan makes Romeo and Juliet look tame. Plus, the dance-off between Bollywood’s top dancer Madhuri Dixit and the agile Rai Bachchan is a knock-out scene. If you have three hours to spare, then reach out for this majestic, lush spectacle about love and heartbreak.
