Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who has always been a humble person when it comes to helping a person has never felt the need to announce how and when she helps people in need through her foundation. But when the NGO celebrated 5,00,000 surgeries helping kids born with a cleft, she chose to use this occasion to urge people to help out the kids. In an exclusive interview, the actor talks about parenting, her films, and her foundation. The actress also spoke about movies being offered to her and Abhishek Bachchan.
When asked if movies have been offered to Abhishek and her, the actress replied, “Yes, we have been offered movies together but an announcement can be only be made once the script is finally locked. Even before a decision can be made, stories do float around.”
Talking about the media attention which went wrong during her father’s birthday last November, the actress replied, “It’s a trick question. It’s tough to explain. I understand and recognise what was happening at that moment — the media wanted their bytes and photos. While I am familiar with the way things function, there was not much space and several kids and their parents were in the room. These kids and their parents are not used to dealing with excitement and got startled [with the media’s behaviour]. That’s when I spoke up. I knew the next day the headlines would be ‘Aishwarya got upset’. I’ve never been one to blame anybody and I don’t. I try to appeal to the human nature of people in times like that.”
When asked does Aaradhya understand the attention she gets, she said, “I haven’t made a conversation out of it. She is a child and I can’t casually say that she understands it. It can never be normal as there is nothing normal about it. Aaradhya has seen it [the attention] since she was a baby, while I was exposed to it only in my twenties. Is it normal to her? I don’t know. It can’t be normal to see human beings behave strangely. But also it’s not like she woke up one day and experienced it.
“She has seen crowds outside our gates, media outside the airports and I would like to believe that she realises that it happens sporadically. I have been a very normal mother with her throughout. I have gone with her everywhere. I go to her school every day. I have done normal things with her like taken her to the park, visited temples, gone to the supermarket etc. so that she understands what ‘normal normal’ is and what social excitement is.”
Talking about her next ‘Fanne Khan’ the actress said, “I am a chapter in the film, not the fulcrum. There are other talents in the story as well and you will see why I chose to do the film once it releases. I am working with Anil for the third time and though I want to call him Anilji, he insists I call him Anil (smiles). He is such a dedicated and ever-charged artiste. Rajkummar Rao has come on board and it is interesting to work with such different energies.”
When asked if the actress felt the pressure ever to look in a certain way, “Compliments have always made me shy and I have cultivated an ability to graciously say ‘thank you’. But, I don’t quite completely believe them. That’s the way I can embrace the normal in life. On-camera looks are always about the character and off-camera appearances depend on the occasion. That’s why I travel light and there is no question of any pressure.”
Talking about the remake of ‘Raat Aur Din’, the actress said, “There are many scripts that come my way. And as an idea this is an interesting concept for an actor to work on. But l am waiting for all of it to come together.”
