[Music] she's the queen of Bollywood it's an international Superstar wherever she goes she's a mom she's been called one of the world's most beautiful women so when she put on weight some of her followers protested my guest today is Aishwarya Rai [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] as a teenager Aishwarya was snapped up by the modeling world I was virtually invited into the industry with very good assignments the 21 she won the Miss World competition and her world changed forever there was a lot of change I was just a student the night before and suddenly next day there I was representing my people internationally by 24 she had already become an established name in Bollywood the world's biggest film industry all to it all with her breathtaking Beauty her looks and her international box office appeal led to roles in the home of Cinema Hollywood I'm sorry I'm a bit late but fight was delayed here [Music] and she ascended to Bollywood royalty with her marriage to a famous actor habichek Basha son of bollywood's biggest stuff my father-in-law is Iconic legendary actually next came a baby daughter along with public complaints about her post-partum weight gain it comes to food I am very I love food and now after two years away from the big screen there's one question everyone's asking will she ever return upon arriving in Mumbai I learned that news of our interview had leached out making headlines but that's not surprising everything she does makes news I'm here in the Hills above Mumbai in the heart of Bollywood it's a place where Aishwarya Rai is truly in India I think movies are virtually a celebration for um it's like the largest entertainment apart from well Cricket but movies is absolutely loved by Our People by um and and I always say that I'm very much a part of our industry but I'm as much our audience and I love our Cinema in fact we're here we're here in interim City Aishwarya was raised in a conservative middle class family that was focused on education [Music] when you came here how old were you when you started to think maybe I could become an actress or a model my story is a little different because actually I never did quite think I'd belong to Showbiz no one in my immediate family or even extended family has ever belonged to Showbiz so we are we're actually more academically oriented so it was always about completing education getting a degree going to Professional School oh you were going to be an architect uh yes before that the dream was medicine to actually become a doctor and then along the journey because I've always been I was a science student but also inclined towards the Arts I decided to discover architecture which to me was a blend of the science and the Arts and so I enrolled into architecture school but just prior to enrolling uh while I was in junior college there was a professor of mine who blessed soul today she isn't with us anymore and she was also a photojournalist while she was a professor of English literature she requested I do this one fashion feature for her and I just did it uh for her I never went to the conventional route of having a portfolio and going uh looking for a job or having an agent or an agency I was just a student doing this one feature for a professor but she was the one who told everybody about this girl called ishwaria and I had calls pouring in and I was virtually invited into the industry with very good assignments and can you remember the first time somebody said to you you are beautiful these questions make me very uncomfortable because it's um probably still do not know how to respond to compliments about the exterior so I just say a modest thank you but I'm not quite sure of Saturn logged it and you know made a note of it that I was called no not really people have been generous in my lifetime and I'm very very thankful for that well let's at this point take a look at you and your early days yeah okay welcome back to Miss World 1994. live from Sun City Miss world that we have had up to date have been proof enough that they have had compassion compassion for the underprivileged not only the people who have status and stature who can look beyond the barriers that man has set up for ourselves of nationality we have to look beyond that and that would make a true Miss World a true person a real person thank you very well spoken Miss India and Miss World 1994 is Miss India there you are magic at that particular moment yes and I have to tell you what why I laughed just now because on the night before of the actual event you know we'd have a little rehearsal for all the participants all the contestants to get an idea as to you know if if you did place where you'd be standing on stage because it's a televised event as well so we'd all be spoofing the response every time a winner is announced yeah we we were taking the Mickey I mean we were all making fun ourselves that every time there's a contestant who's announced the girls go and I was like my hands I did the same thing there they announced me as the winner and there I went doing but it's it's really not practiced it's just something that happens at the time because um you don't expect to win and I think what's most incredible about the moment is that your country is announced it's not Aishwarya who's announced it's Miss India and for me somewhere uh going to that pageant was not about being a beauty queen or be telling the world do you think I'm beautiful so here I am it was about representing India internationally Namaste I'm Aishwarya Rai 21 years old and come from the country of love peace and Harmony India participating in the pageant meant that Aishwarya would have to appear on worldwide TV wearing a swimsuit but how would this be received in her conservative Homeland [Applause] did you did you feel nervous about doing that a swimsuit is not a garment I have never worn before but yes I haven't walked on stage before in it and yes it wasn't the most natural thing for me to do and in fact in the pre-rounds as well I I talked to them about it and I was like uh if if the idea is to do it like a fashion show like fashion models would then I did it with a sarong in in the in the initial rounds and in fact on the stage that year in the preliminaries they do have all the 87 contestants with sarongs I mean I'm sure internationally girls are very comfortable in swimwear and it's about girls possibly getting a career in the fashion world and in the modeling World internationally where people are far more comfortable in this In Their Skin publicly then let's just do it like a fashion show because it's not about really the girl with the best body because then I wouldn't have won there were girls it was far more stunning bodies on uh you know during my years so yeah it wasn't about the body for sure at that stage in your life were you were you aware did you think everything was about to change in your life that you'd started on a course that you couldn't totally control I believed I could control the course ahead or I would like to definitely have a grip on it I was actually quite determined about that but did I get a sense that everything was going to change yes definitely from within and everything around me convinced me as well there was a lot of change I was just a student the night before and uh suddenly next year there I was representing my people internationally that's what I was looking for when I participated in the pageant but it was wonderful to see that that's exactly what it was turning out to be it was not about just getting a beauty queen title as I said it was that opportunity for me to become a kind of cultural Ambassador for us Indians on the world platform and it shocked me how ill-informed so many parts of the world were actually about current India and I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to dispel some very um from my perspective unbelievable misconceptions about us what's an example of it and this sort of unbelievable things you were amazed people thought about it yes basic things like the fact that I spoke English comfortably to begin with and they'd be like um are you educated in India and I'm like yes it's like you you speak English really well and I'm like well we do learn English in India you know I mean please it's this is really simple yes when I'm on the world platform I do tend to speak with a little more of a pronounced accent so my accent does get a little more westernized but having said that my English is plain and simple I've studied in India and that's it from Miss World it was a short leap the Bollywood started with a 21 year old [Music] [Music] oh [Music] thank you [Music] that was really you with the sword there was it yeah evidently yes very much loving every minute of it it must have been very different actually I mean moving on from on the one level of being an unnamed model as it were with no no headline underneath to the point of becoming a star in a film and with your name being everywhere and so on that was quite an adjustment you had to make there um so I wouldn't want to sound presumptuous but very honest I think thanks to the love of my people and the way they Embrace embraced me right from the first advert that I did I actually never quite suffered anonymity I was virtually being invited to join the film industry prior to my titles so in terms of all of that that space it wasn't new to me my story is not that of a conventional newcomer into the film industry nobody in my in my circle or my space until then had ever belonged to the film industry so this was a new world this was new tough and but since I chose to become an actor as a career choice I was going to discontinue with my education and I I chose to become an actor understanding that Deb does was a breakthrough for one of the Breakthrough films of your career wasn't it really Yes actually all of them have been quite a landmark in in my career the first movie uh that they just showed alhamdulillah was probably um like the third movie I was filming at that time we used to be making like a couple of movies at the same time uh today we work on one film at a time like you do in the west but at the time we'll be cut we'd be filming a couple of movies at the same time so I really wouldn't know how to really number the first movie uh whether to call it my third film or or so but uh it was a big one it was love to buy my audience and it was the first movie I received the best actress award for so it will always remain extremely special in my career [Music] and and so now would you you'd rather be people compliment you on your talent than on your beauty well I am an actor of course I'm an actor but you were professionally and you're a woman so you you could be complimented on either but you I thought you'd be more comfortable complimental welcome and I'll I'll know to graciously say thank you but it depends what what topic we're discussing you've been very actually Frank really actually I in talking about the fact that of course beauties not here to stay obviously it's um I think I've had a very normal upbringing and I've lived a very real life so uh fortunately I was very in touch with that obvious reality right at the beginning of my journey [Music] aishwarya's Rose had always played to the conservative Indian culture where risque scenes are taboo in Bollywood just when an on-screen romance gets too hot everyone breaks into song and dance [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but Aishwarya was persuaded to push her own and her audience's bounds [Music] [Music] what persuaded you that this was the right time to do that um no you're going to get me to talk about something I haven't uh in any of my interviews when I did the movie Zoom I was very uh very aware that um okay here I was going to be part of a film that's um it's just It's Just Popcorn entertainment I mean every frame you're kind of aware of your your stance in front of the camera it's all very Visual and there is a bit of acting going along the way so specifically that genre of Cinema it was around the same time that the interest in the Western World from Hollywood or european Cinema in English Cinema from the industry there was a lot of interest in me and the possibility of me working overseas and I'd already declined a couple of scripts purely on the basis of not being comfortable with you know with the very physical scenes and the kissing because I'd never done that on screen and I just wasn't very comfortable with the idea and I was quite sure even my audience was not comfortable very very comfortable with me doing it on screen I was actually quite convinced about it but I still said okay if I have to go down this path let me first do it in our Cinema in an Indian piece of Cinema and let me see if all my doubts are true and they will I did it once that prominently in in that movie tomb and it was so topical and you'll be surprised I mean I actually got a couple of notices legal notices from some people in the country uh turning around and saying you are iconic you're an example to our girls you have led your life in such an exemplary manner they're not comfortable with you doing this on screen so why did you and I was like wow doing my job and here I am being asked to offer an explanation for a couple of seconds in a two three RPS of Cinema a lot of actors had kissed before that movie they continue to kiss on screen till this very minute but public display is not that common in Indian culture even our actors it's very rare that actors look comfortable in our Cinema on screen kissing it almost looks like it's a planned moment just to make much to do about a moment or to excite the audience it's it's made into this separate entity from a scene it's not very comfortable in our screenplay our songs are what the kisses in the western movie is what our songs do and that's where our audience experiences all the emotions that the Western audience does when their actors kiss so that's a very comfortable space for us but I don't think the kiss visually has been it's getting there I mean now it's become very very common so I think I think I still think our audience is getting comfortable with it the controversy didn't face Hollywood which courted Aishwarya for her International appeal just wanted it to be simple I see and so he came here is that what you think too that India is the place to go for simple women [Music] that's not what I meant it's funny Americans think about the answers for everything including marriage prayer the highest divorce rate in the world what I was trying to say is that he won a bride who was traditional and Darcy stop boring her to death and come and get down with us this is my house it's my money if I want to spend it on other women I will if I want to poke out those pretty eyes I'll do that too his DNA has been on file for over 10 years without a match I'm sorry I'm a bit late my flight was delayed here Jacques Clouseau The Pink Panther Detective this is such a Steve Martin there of course right yes of all the international films I.E the the non-bollywood films in made with the rest of the world what is your favorite so far wow um difficult to pick a favorite simply because they're very uh obvious decisions that I made in terms of choices there aren't that many and they're each one done at a very very different and specific phase of my career at the time and I had my own reasons for making the choices [Music] um when you're working in the Indian film industry we do not necessarily go from one film to the next in terms of um accepting term offers so when if you're doing really well in the industry and if you're one of those fortunate ones who's flooded the job offers you could well be committed for the next two years at least in this industry and that's exactly what my career was going through so there were many movies that I was unable to do primarily for this reason because I was already committed and I was never that ambitious that I would just discard my filmmakers here in India because of film may not seem that um juicy in terms of box office prospects and the Western one would I would never dream of discarding my filmmakers and then take on a possibly more lucrative or bigger announcement project at one stage Aishwarya didn't just say no to Hollywood she even said no to Brad Pitt there were a lot of explicit scenes for Helen a lot of scenes a lot of love making scenes for that character we'll hear about that in part two along with her marriage into Bollywood Royals a dynasty or a dynasty what happened when she had a baby and didn't immediately shrink back to Andrew's side and what everybody wants to know how does one of the world's most beautiful women stay that way I've never dieted never never never foreign [Music] the preeminent leading lady in the world's biggest film industry a wife and mother constantly surrounded by paparazzi a superstar so in demand she can turn down even the most tempting offer Brad Pitt was one you said no to because you didn't think Troy was quite suitable and so on and why why did you make that decision when it came to Troy that was in fact the very first year that I went to the states and within a couple of days of meeting with a couple of agencies I hadn't even I think taken on an agent by then when I was called in for a couple of readings and and Screen tests for three different films Troy one amongst them and there was a possibility of me being in that movie I was given the script to read and there were a lot of explicit scenes for Helen a lot of scenes a lot of love making scenes for that character which I could understand in in the piece of Cinema on the international platform of course it works in the in the love story of Helen and Paris but it did not work for me as an actor to be going out there and while you get to play the part of Helen which is incredible and iconic but at the same time the very material on Celluloid involved a lot of love making scenes that I wasn't comfortable with so um I quite declined even the possibility of becoming a part of that movie and you know it's it's wonderful work but it just wasn't for me at the time but I can't wear them [Music] hey baby [Music] [Music] two careers in the one marriage does that put a pressure on you or not here a couple leading a regular life together a lot of credit for this attitude has to be given to our parents for the way they've brought us up I come from a family like I said who has not been in the public eye and even when I came into the public eye I continued to lead a very normal life with them and Abhishek my husband on the other hand is born into a very very uh a family or a dynasty well both his parents belong to the film industry they're both actors and very very very well established my father-in-law is Iconic legendary actually already and you know he's he's much celebrated and and I could go on and on and on and this interview will probably never end double check [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what's incredible is that even though that is a family that is so much in the public eye Abhishek and shweta the kids have been brought up in a very very uh what to me is a very very normal manner and probably that's one of the the roots of our connection that we connected as people we were friends for a very long time before we fell in love and uh you know came together to be man and wife so um yes we are actors and we love what we do we're passionate about what we do and there are no two ways about that at the same time we are very real committed people uh marriage means a lot to us we respect the institution and that's the normal life that we lead even though it's it's so much in the public eye [Music] [Music] I found bewildering press campaign about how soon were you going to get rid of the extra weight you put on to have the baby and so on and huge headlines about I thought what's this all about I mean it seemed to be something quite normal you've taken a little bit longer you decided to take it easy but what what was the fuss about do you know that's pretty much my response what's the fuss about it's it's it's not something that I feel the need to even be discussing or giving so much attention to because uh as you rightly put it um it's not what's all the fuss about it's normal it's it's it was natural in in my case that was the natural turn that my body took uh in terms of whether you know I gained weight or I had water retention or whatever else that goes with the space I was comfortable and that's why I have been who I have been I stepped out in public when I could take time out from my baby and if I did think it was a big deal I would have been in hiding or or would have done something about it everything is accessible today we all know uh the incredible progress that science has made so if you want to lose it overnight it is possible but that's not the choice that I was making and I pretty much made that evident and if um I wasn't disturbed by it if people were well I guess I hope they enjoyed the drama because I was busy leading a very real life with my baby I didn't realize but I think the most positive thing that came out of it for me was to have so many women come to me and say that you know thank you uh you've actually gone and given so much confidence to so many of us who always believed that oh my God this phase you need to hide away you need to work on yourself it works on people's self-esteem and you've been confident that I was like I I was this wasn't a mission I wasn't like on some mission to prove a point in this way or that I was just being real at least now you know what I said at 18 is what I'm doing even today just living my normal real life very much in the public eye and doing what I love to do and that is being an actor are you going to become a new mother again I'd love to God willing God willing yeah Aishwarya for quite some time now has been putting her media profile to use helping others again [Music] it's like this delve into what the children is all about what the children needs and how you go forth and educate them I have been um quietly associated with a lot of different uh causes that need attention and need voice on a public platform uh over the years but the most recent one is my association with the United Nations and been um have been taken on as their International Goodwill Ambassador with unaids and it just happened in the last week of of September and while I'm here and ready to work and do what needs to be done uh having uh you know the the blessing of celebrity it uh probably uh gives me access to a larger uh and wider reach when it comes to people through you of course the media so I feel uh if we can reach a more receptive Audience by the fact that I am on the public platform then I would like to use that effectively and and this particular course the particular agenda that unaids has when you when you have this program of getting to Zero by 2015 that's not very far away and what what do you think could be done their vision is to getting it to zero and when they say getting it to zero is to uh have no more babies born with HIV so the the the area that uh unaids believes can be um controlled and an achievable Target is to have the neck Next Generation free of HIV I believe that there'll be so many people out there who have not even stepped forward who have not even come and got themselves tested out of the sheer fear of social taboo and ostracization and um that comes from the fact that I think they don't have enough people to talk to or people to talk to them to educate them to to increase awareness and that's where I believe I can step in and and help give an impetus to it and this particular moment is a particularly uh good entrenchanted moment to be doing this in the sense that you Masters is all first-time parents with a healthy child at that moment of thankfulness is just the moment when you feel like reaching out more to people who have not been that fortunate and may have been born with some crippling disease what you say is very true but the little truth here is that actually United Nations has been speaking to me over the past 10 years to come on board and I was always interested in actually working in this area but me being me 10 years ago I was so there was so much going on in terms of my film work I genuinely believed I didn't have the time to commit to the work in an honest way and anything I take up in my life I like to commit to completely and if I believe I cannot do that even if that would make for a grand announcement I would not take it up so 10 years ago I declined and down the years even like four years ago there was a lot of interest and there was the possibility of me coming on board but I had kept it at Bay saying probably at the later stage when I will genuinely be able to commit time that happens to be now right now I'm not working on film right now I can plan my time ahead I can plan all the work that they need me to do and commit to that when I'm beginning to schedule uh my my work front but my story is I had the blessing of working with the best of the directors that we have in our industry and that has translated itself in the kind of work that I've been doing down the years and of course there is change of course there is growth [Music] the new and expanding Indian middle class has an appetite that goes beyond the song and dance of Bollywood [Applause] subjects such as political thrillers or themes of infidelity or infertility oh boy double X boys excite boys Air DVD addict double X at xxx movie all the best is that the way that uh Indian film is going do you think more reality less happy endings I wouldn't want to make any such pronouncements because uh Indian Cinema I believe in the traditional sense what you all identify as the typical Bollywood film in terms of identifying the music and dance and celebration will always be enjoyed by our audience for sure and I'm glad to know that a lot of the western audiences well quite enjoys that in in our Cinema and the world is getting smaller socially I think it's becoming a far uh more International Global Community you know in in every part of the world so um it would be great that that identified as a traditional Indian Cinema would continue to stay because Indian as a people we are a very festive Community we have a lot of Celebration and festivals and festivities in our in our culture and that reflects itself in the celebration of Cinema in the typical Bollywood sense as you all would define it [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] at the same time um what the world identifies as changing Cinema actually always did exist as well in Indian Cinema but I think with the multiplex culture getting stronger and that much more exhibition of our Cinema we have that much more opportunity to exhibit our Cinema and distribute our Cinema more pockets in in terms of markets in the world opening up these movies get recognized by the Western media get talked about and so it's a it's a great time for Indian Cinema because it's always been diverse we have a lot going on creatively but it's a very interesting time because the audience is diverse and the opportunity is tremendous so do you think there are there will be less taboos in Indian Cinema stroke Bollywood in the future will it become Freer more liberal that's has been a natural progression probably since 1920 till date you know there's always been change and change is great change is the only constant I mean that's that's a known fact so so that that's a given um but I would always say that's that's creativity it'll go through its uh through its curve and um as an artist I think that's that's great and very very exciting I think the more creative Liberation the the more exciting it is for directors to bring to life their vision and it's great for Cinema but will Aishwarya be part of this new era she hasn't made a film for two years you are obviously going to go on making films I'd love to I mean I think like they say once an actor always an actor and when you're not inspired and excited anymore you will walk away you're doing what you do for so long because you love doing it apart from the fact that you're amazing at it you enjoy it yes it's pretty much the same thing for us as well I mean as actors as creative people you love doing what you do and that's why you're here I'm passionate about Cinema but uh you know the day I'm bored and if it doesn't excite me I will not make the time for your fans and so on that's a good positive reply in terms of the fact that you at the moment you want to go on making films you don't want to stop um on one level um probably it's the people of my industry and my audience who haven't even given me the opportunity to to consider otherwise because uh I've been interacting with my filmmakers there's been talk with in terms of scripts and at every at regular intervals so I probably even felt I haven't really felt a break in any way I mean apart from the fact that time's just flying with my baby it's really pretty much like maternity leave I guess as one would on any other job but it's not I mean I think Much Ado is made about a break and a comeback and the soldiers makes for exciting talk and and titles and headlines for announcing an article but much of those made about that well we wish you all the best with that with the social work we've been talking about all the best thank you so much thank you thank you so much our formal interview had ended but Aishwarya agreed to come out for a meal yeah this is me one for you great thank you thank you thank you one for me now you are the expert on this place the expert that's a bit crediting me with a bit much but I'm Indian and you're in my country so welcome to you to our Indian dinner thank you very much what what do you think we should partake of yourself ah I'm sure you'd find the Indian spices a bit much to pallets you want to do like your stickers you know different kebabs and takers easier on the spices for him and a Dal adal would be great do you like the Indian bread or rice oh I love the Indian breakfast yeah the nouns and cultures and rotis would be great and maybe a rice or a yogurt as well at the end what are your favorites in terms of when you come to a restaurant like this what are your favorite things [Music] excited never never never because I I enjoy food and the only thing that I'd probably work on is quantity if I need to reduce and check the quantities over time but I have never stopped myself from any particular Cuisine or types of foods because um because I know I would not be able to be consistent with that throughout my lifetime so I love home food the most home food the most but of course in terms of Cuisine I I enjoy all kinds of foods but this is something about the Indian food I think we've all grown up on that so much that I think every third day it's so easily available anywhere in the world now so even when you're traveling it's always there and available but I'm easy with food I really am I'm not a very fussy eater and so when you said you never diet or never even after the Glorious birth even after that you didn't you didn't did you run a lot no I I should actually it's it's amazing I but I have I have lost weight actually just looking after my daughter so far I mean I I probably should be but I'm I'm really doing all the caretaking so I think that keeps you very very active and just naturally after a certain month the waitress started dropping off so I'm no thank you I guess thank you my dear darling daughter but but I should I I would like I've been saying this for years and so many interviews that I think it's important to kind of incorporate exercise into your routine because it's it's a lifestyle that you have to embrace and you have to bring it into your routine and that's where you can kind of just go with it like if and when I'm in the gym I love it but because it's never been part of my routine I find it very difficult to factor it in I just I'm not used to it maybe that's so that's something I would like to do just because you know it's healthy and what about if you had to write down the last meal on Earth what would be that what would be the perfect Indian meal for you thought about it that's so strong I think it's just basic food cooked by my mother very very basic just simple Rice and Dal and maybe a fish or a or a chicken curry that my mom makes I would I would love that like simple basic food yeah yeah absolutely what have we got here she's coming wow go ahead please what is it that's an Indian Savory it's called a samosa Samosa yes it's like a little yes that's right the same name as a dictator Anastasia who was who was a dictator and was eventually thrown out by the sand and Bistro wow well we do a lot of just happy snacking with the hands all right it's not quite easy to do this with a fork and knife this is a hand snack yeah snack yes I'm I'm eating it the wrong way but I like who has done more movies you or your husband oh wow probably him just a little more I haven't actually counted but I maybe sure yeah over 40 over 40 movies I I don't know if you're very equaled or he's done a few more I'm not quite sure [Music]