Aishwarya Rai

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai is set to star in a major film about the Taj Mahal, India’s famous monument to love.

Aishwarya will play the role of Mumtaz Mahal, the favorite wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who built the stunning monument for her.

Oscar-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who will also be producing the $30m film, will play Shah Jahan. Aishwarya is no doubt, one of Bollywood’s top stars and is hugely popular around the world.

The as yet untitled film will be produced by Sir Ben and is scheduled to be shot in India in 2008, Rai’s foreign agent Simone Sheffield told the BBC News website.

The director of the film has not yet been chosen and the script has yet to be completed, Ms Sheffield said.

Another Bollywood actress and former model, Bipasha Basu, will be playing the role of Shah Jahan’s daughter, Jahanara. Ms Sheffield said Sir Ben had met Basu while co-hosting the Seven New Wonders of the World event in Lisbon in July, where they had discussed the role.

Aishwarya is presently filming Pink Panther 2, starring Steve Martin, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno and John Cleese, in Boston. She has worked in international projects with mixed results. In 2005, she appeared in the British romantic comedy Bride and Prejudice; and she also starred in Provoked, a film based on the autobiography of a victim of domestic abuse, who was convicted of the murder of her husband.

Ms Sheffield said Aishwarya was “considering two other films” for next spring.

“She is special because she can play different ages and ethnicities. Because of this, many producers and directors think of her in a wide range of roles,” she said.

Well, all we can say is to wish you Good luck in everything you do Ash.

This has to be the biggest film ever, for Aishwarya Rai.

Hollywood actor Steve Martin in an upcoming sequel to the iconic ‘The Pink Panther.’

To be directed by Harald Zwart of Agent Cody Banks fame, the sequel will also have Andy Garcia, John Cleese and Alfred Molina. Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer will be back as Ponton and Nicole.

Rai’s business manager Harii Singh confirmed the news, first reported by Variety magazine. “It is true that Aishwarya has signed the film,” he said. The film is slated for release in 2009, and the “principal photography” will begin in France next month, Singh said. “Aishwarya will finish the dubbing for Ashutosh Gowariker’s Akbar Jodha and the shooting of Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sarkar 2’ before starting on The ‘Pink Panther 2.’ From the first week of September to the end of October, she will be shooting outside India,” Singh added.

Ash will play one of the detectives along with Villain Molina and Garcia. They will join French police detective Jacques Clouseau, played by Martin.

To be co-produced by Columbia Pictures and MGM, the film will be distributed by Warner Brothers. Based on the 1964 Peter Sellers’ original, ‘The Pink Panther’ collected over $140 million last year.

For the first time in her career Aishwarya Rai goes completely makeup-free for Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar. He has had the time of his life shooting with the Bachchans, including their Bahu Aishwarya Rai.

Exults Ramu, “Very frankly I was wondering what she had in store considering I had never worked with her before. And considering the Sarkar sequel is a dark intense raw and real film I was apprehensive about how far Aishwarya Rai would be able to shed her immense glamour.”

But the Bachchan bahu took Ramu by surprise. “She shocked me with her performance. Without too many rehearsals and certainly without attending any pre-shoot workshop (I work, I don’t shop) Aishwarya has stood up to Amitji and Abhishek in every scene. Audiences will be shocked with her performance.”

Apparently Ramu is already planning a third part to the Sarkar saga. “I can’t see the film working without her. But to quote me as saying the film could’ve worked with Mr Bachchan and Abhishek but not without Aishwarya is like saying the Godfather could do without Brando and Pacino.”

The title if misread will definitely give you goosebumps. No the couple ain’t splitting in real life but yes in the reel life. Bollywood’s most beautiful couple, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, will have to watch each other play the role of spouse to another in the upcoming film “Sarkar Raj.”

Aishwarya Rai, the 1994 Miss World, and Abhishek Bachchan, son to legendary Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan were married in April of this year but when they share the screen in “Sarkar Raj” they will be anything but friendly.

Aishwarya will play the role of an independent woman caught up in the corporate world and power games. According to director Ram Gopal Varma, “We’ve worked hard on the look. The glamour of Aishwarya in ‘Sarkar Raj’ will be that she won’t be glamorous. She’s so intrinsically beautiful it will be a challenge to make her look simple. But I want her to look like nothing she has done so far.”

In many ways the film, a sequel to “Sarkar,” is similar to “The Godfather” with the political maneuverings inside an underworld family.

Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai will play a powerful woman who manages mob business in a new film with her husband and father-in-law, a newspaper reported on Monday.

In the movie “Sarkar 2,” Rai plays a daughter-in-law who moves from taking care of the home of an underworld kingpin to a shrewd manager of organized crime.

“She (Rai) will shock audiences,” director Ram Gopal Varma told The Times of India newspaper. “To say she’ll be portrayed like never before would be an understatement.”

The movie is a sequel to the 2005 hit movie “Sarkar” about a ruthless mob boss played by Amitabh Bachchan and his son, Abhishek Bachchan, who stars as his right-hand man. It will be the first time the three actors appear on screen together after Rai wed Abhishek Bachchan last month.

The sequel takes the plot forward with the older Bachchan ailing and the younger Bachchan and Rai working together to ensure they retain control over his crime syndicate.

Varma did not disclose when he would start filming the movie, but the Indian media have reported shooting will start later this year.

A green-eyed former model, Rai, 33, will wear no makeup for her new role, Varma said.

“Nobody would expect a looker like her to portray such a dark character,” he said. “Her beauty won’t be enhanced by filters and shaded lighting. She’ll be totally without makeup.”

One of Bollywood’s most recognizable faces abroad, Rai was at the Cannes Film Festival last week as part of a team of models for cosmetics company L’Oreal.

In Irish novelist Roddy Doyle’s The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, the battered wife Paula keeps justifying her bruises by saying she as a habit walks into closed doors and hurts herself.

The battered wife Kiranjit in Jagmohan Mundhra’s jolting expose on domestic values never gets a chance to walk in or out of that closed London door where she lives with her brutal husband. She chooses her husband’s death over own exit.

It’s amazing how the true-life Kiranjit Ahluwalia found freedom by setting her brutal husband on fire. In one of the film’s most sensitively delineated dialogues, Kiranjit says to her rather overly benign prison mates, “I’ve never felt freer in my life.”

Provoked is based on an autobiography by Kiranjit Ahluwalia who was jailed for killing her violent husband by setting him on fire in 1989 after having endured a decade of rape and beatings.

Critics have often panned our beautiful Aishwarya Rai for her acting skills.

But this time, Aishwarya, has garnered praise for her realistic portrayal - a far cry from the trademark glitz of Bollywood films.

“Definitely, she has shown the pain of my life on her face,” Ahluwalia told the Hindu newspaper. “She has done a very good job.”

Ahluwalia was charged with murder in 1989 and sentenced to life, but the punishment was reduced after pressure from activists which put the spotlight on domestic abuse.

Director Jagmohan Mundhra said Rai’s allure for millions of Indians and an international profile would help pull in audiences for what is considered an unappealing topic in Bollywood, which mainly churns out candyfloss romances.

“It took me some time to release the film here because Indian distributors are not believers in non-formula films,” Mundhra said.

Well done Aishwarya! I have never been so impressed by your acting, personally! Way to go!!! Good luck. We love ya!

The gorgeous Aishwarya Rai has confirmed teaming up with Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan and fiancé Abhishek Bachchan for the sequel of Sarkar.

It has been confirmed that Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are teaming up for the first time for a whole film, Ram Gopal Varma’s sequel to “Sarkar”.

“News travels fast! Yes, it’s true Aishwarya has agreed to be a part of ‘Sarkar’ 2. We only need to work out her dates. She’ll of course play the lead opposite Abhishek,” Ram Gopal Verma said.

Considering how much in the news the pair is, Varma has got quite a winning combination on his hands.

Laughs the filmmaker: “I don’t think that’s the primary motivation for my casting Aishwarya. You see, I’ve been meaning to work with her for some time. Who doesn’t want to work with Aishwarya Rai? But the vehicle has to be worthy of her presence.

“I did approach her on a few occasions earlier. Things didn’t work out. I’m glad she’s on finally.”

‘Sarkar 2’ which will carry forward the story of the ‘Godfather’ – like political clan will now have Abhishek playing the messianic saviour of the downtrodden.

The Bachchan senior has confirmed that he would have comparatively less to do in the sequel to “Sarkar”. But knowing Varma’s passionate proclivity for the Big B’s histrionics there’s bound to be more of Amitabh than it would outwardly appear possible.

“I can’t say right now how much scope the three main stars will have in ‘Sarkar 2’. But Amitji, Abhishek and Aishwarya are going to be seen in a light not cast before,” revealed Varma, who has just directed Bachchan in Nishabd.

Director Jagmohan Mundhra’s Provoked starring Aishwarya Rai is a real life story dealing with domestic violence. The film was sent for censorship late last month wherein it was passed with an ‘A’ certificate. This incidentally miffed the director.

“The film Provoked deals with domestic violence wherein Aishwarya Rai is subjected to physical, mental and verbal abuses by her husband. Hence the film had many abusive words. So we had to give it an adult certificate,” says Censorship Examining committee member Nandini Sardesai.

She further adds, “But Mundhra was not content with this outcome. So he agreed to delete the four letter words and got the film for re-censorship. Now it has been given a ‘U/A’ certificate.”

Sardesai says that Mundhra felt the need for the film to reach a wider audience because of its delicate issue. Giving the film an A certificate would have, thus limited the audience in the theatres. As a result, he agreed to delete abusive language from the movie.

Additionally, in order to reach a cross section of the society, Mundhra is also dubbing the film in the Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu languages. However, Mundhra will have to apply independently for censorship of each dubbed version.

Though the release date of the film isn’t finalized, Mundhra is planning to release the movie after 4 April, once the exam and the Cricket World Cup fever subsides.

The film was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.