Bipasha Basu had once said that if there's a face that's associated with the Indian film industry internationally, it's Ash. She was the bride who overcame the West's prejudice, the mistress who had the spice.
She's got five international films under her belt and more offers coming her way. She's a regular at international film festivals. She's the only Indian actress to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds, and have Hollywood A-list actors such as Will Smith wanting to act with her - yes,
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the global face of Indian cinema.
The first international film that Aishwarya did was Bride And Prejudice, in 2003-04. Gurinder Chadha and her husband Paul Mayeda Berges made the movie. When we asked Paul why they cast Ash as the lead, he said, "Aishwarya is an actor first and foremost because she wants to play roles which will challenge her and enable her to grow by showing new complexities. Of course, she's a star because she is someone who has an extra quality, an ability to light up in front of the camera in a way that is unexplainable. And she fit in perfectly in Lalita's character."
Ash's second international movie was again with the husband-wife duo. And the Mistress Of Spices again found Ash in a lead role. "Everyone knows about Ash's beauty, but where she shines in Mistress, is in her character's inner beauty. She wanted to play the role of Tilo as simple and non-glamourous because that is who Tilo is a character that only thinks about others, never herself. I was immensely impressed that Ash understood that right away and really got inside the character," Paul explains his choice again, adding, "Ash's very instinctive, she knows what's right for her character and yet she's completely open to trying out new things. In Mistress, she has a great chemistry with Dylan McDermott, who is a fantastic American actor (The Practice). Their romance is very nuanced and emotional; it's on a deeper, more human level than most commercial films. In a romance, what isn't said is what's fascinating and Ash is fantastic at expressing her feelings in silence."
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