All critics slam Aishwarya Rai!
By Our Correspondent ©2004 Bollyvista.com

Aishwarya Rai was torn to shreds by the UK media for her performance (or the lack of it) in 'Bride & Prejudice'. Now the Indian media (by that, we mean the critics who really matter) have ripped Aishwarya Rai apart as well in the reviews that have appeared in the last few days in the Indian press. Khalid Mohamed felt that Ash would not be able to match Meryl Streep in 'Chaos' and was concerned about her deterioration, especially in her last few films. "She's as fake as her giggles," he said. Deepa Gahlot wrote, "She has one sneering expression throughout the film." Clearly, these are bad times for our Ash!

Aishwarya cannot carry a film on her shoulders

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By Priyanka Khanna, IANS



The big-budget Diwali releases, "Vaastu Shastra", "Kis Kiski Kismat", "Raincoat" and "Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav", hold some promise of putting a soothing balm on Bollywood's box-office wounds.

Horror flick "Vaastu Shastra" is the latest from the prolific Factory of Ramgopal Varma and K. Sera Sera, who have a tie-up for five films.

The film is slated for release Oct 22 and is directed by Saurabh Narang. It has a formidable cast of Sushmita Sen, Chakravarthy, Piya Rai Chaudhary and Purab Kohli.

Aishwarya Rai will be seen together with her "Hum Dil De Chuke Saman" co-star Ajay Devgan in "Raincoat" which is the first Hindi film of celebrated director Rituparno Ghosh.

The Bengali filmmaker's "Chokher Bali" won a National Award for Best Film in Bengali and "Raincoat" will be screened at this year's London Film Festival, which begins Oct 20. Rituparno will begin shooting his next Hindi film set in 1880, "Antar Mahal", soon with a cast that includes Abhishek, Soha Ali Khan, Jackie Shroff and Rupa Ganguly.

From trade perspective, box-office pundits, however, say that after the debacle of the much-hyped "Kyun... Ho Gaya Na", Aishwarya has lost a sizable following.

And "Bride and Prejudice" has not helped either. Clearly, when it comes to Indian marquees, she cannot carry a film on her shoulders. Even her producer Subhash Ghai says she focuses too much on her presentation.

Critics say the only commercial success she has to her credit is "Taal" and even "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" and "Devdas" would have been just as successful without her. In fact, in "Devdas", Madhuri Dixit's sheer talent overshadowed Aishwarya.

Ash has a long way to go before she can match Madhuri who could single-handedly drive even a less-than-average film to unqualified box office success. She would do well to take some tips from Madhuri when she tours the US in November to promote her latest film.

All critics slam Aish//D- Day for Aish



Well, read this:

http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullst ... dline=The~

The 'Bride' wins the hearts!

By Taran Adarsh (IndiaFM.com)
Thursday, 14 October , 2004, 11:07

Gurinder Chadha must be grinning from ear to ear! While her last film Bend It Like Beckham grossed over $ 32 million in the U.S. and over £ 11 million in U.K., her latest flick, Bride And Prejudice, has more than lived up to the gargantuan expectations.



Although Bride And Prejudice met with mixed reactions from the British press [it hasn't released in the U.S. yet], that didn't deter moviegoers from thronging the cinema halls in large numbers. Going by the opening weekend collections of Gurinder's latest film, the U.K. audiences have embraced and welcomed the 'Bride' with love and affection.

Any international project looks at recovering its investment from the overseas markets, and Bride And Prejudice is no exception.

Of course, it would be interesting to see how the U.S. market in particular and the European and Australian markets in general react to the movie and how profitable this venture eventually turns out to be.

In India, as expected, the English version of the film has fared better than the Hindi version. Getting more specific, the English version did start on a slow start at almost every centre, but the weekend collections have shown an upswing.

The multiplex crowd has loved the film and with no major opposition in the forthcoming week [till October 22], Bride And Prejudice should have an uninterrupted positive run at most multiplexes, especially during the weekends. The glowing reviews [by most critics] could prove beneficial and sustain its position in the marketplace.

The Hindi version of Bride And Prejudice wasn't well received comparatively. Although the Hindi version did fetch a better opening than the two Hindi openers this week, Shukriya and Wajahh, one definitely expected Balle Balle [the dubbed version of Bride And Prejudice] to open much better, considering it stars Aishwarya Rai in the lead.

But the promos of the film were so unexciting and the publicity campaign equally uninteresting that the dull opening didn't come as a surprise.

http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/0 ... hwarya~Rai

Star Of The week: Aishwarya Rai

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By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

One of Britain's most revered critics, Chris Tookey of Daily Mail, has compared Aishwarya Rai in "Bride & Prejudice" to Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday" and Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman".

They adore her in Britain. Hundreds of SMS messages from all over the world clog Ms Rai's cellphone. One day, the darned instrument simply collapsed! "Good it was my phone and not me," she joked.

Trust her to make a joke about any situation, even if it means undermining her tremendous welcome in Britain's movie orbit with Gurinder Chadha's "Bride & Prejudice".

Back home it's a different story. Even if London's The Observer critic Philip French finds Aishwarya Rai "incredibly beautiful" in the film, Indian critics have been left largely cold by her performance. This is in direct contrast to the way we generally react to our stars acquiring global popularity.

Om Puri and Saeed Jaffrey were two actors whose careers back home in India acquired that extra edge after they appeared in British and American films. Not all of the work that they've done abroad is pivotal, let alone exemplary.

Aishwarya Rai's international debut is pivotal and very, very attractive. So why is the Indian media judging her so harshly? Editorials are being written in national dailies about the clothes she wore at the premiere of the film in London. Harsh and extremely cruel words are being used to dismiss Ms Rai's efforts to go international.

Typically, Aishwarya looks at the larger picture.

"I am not concerned with what local dress designers have to say about me. But can you imagine what Giorgio Armani would think about their ignorance about global fashion if he read what these Bollywood designers have to say about my clothes sense?

"In their effort to pull me down as hard as possible they've even commented that I painted my hair blonde. I've never in my life done that! Either our dress designers are colour blind or they need to look at my appearance rather than their perception of how they'd like me to appear in public."

Strangely, those very designers, mediapersons and filmmakers who have been publicly deriding Ms Rai have been privately queuing up for her attentions. "Either I'm not good enough or I am, please make up your minds," she laughs.

Some mediapersons in India just don't like her by now legendary beauty and would like to impute flaws where there are none.

"Can she act?" screamed one headline in a Mumbai paper. Isn't it a bit late in the day to ask that? According to one school of talk in Mumbai, only Sanjay Leela Bhansali can make Ash act -- not Mani Ratnam, not Gurinder Chadha.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't these same critics say she was plastic and over-the-top in Bhansali's mesmerising musical opera "Devdas"? Today, they concede she acted well under Bhansali's guidance. Maybe the 19 awards she got for the film convinced them.

This week, Sanjay Bhansali and Aishwarya Rai appeared together in a segment of Karan Johar's forthcoming talk show "Koffee With Karan". In it he has praised her lavishly.

Aishwarya is incapable of spewing malice or turning a situation to her own advantage.

Everyone knows about her bitter parting with Salman Khan. Only close friends know why she issued a press statement on why she would never work with him again. It was after Salman Khan's brother Arbaaz went on a television channel with a sarcastic comment on how she'd work with a man on a film ("Bajirao Mastani") for months even if she had decided to sever all relations with him.

No one knows what pain such public sneering caused Aishwarya, whose magic mantra in life is, "I'll never do anything to compromise my family and my principles". No one knows about the threats and humiliations she was subjected to just because she said no to a certain relationship.

"All I know is I've survived, and I've moved on." But the pain often shows up. The wounds have yet not healed. While talking to friends about her nightmarish experience, she breaks down and cries.

What do you do with a man who does this to one of the most beautiful woman in the world and refuses to move on?

In the face of such crippling assault on her dignity, Aishwarya Rai remains calm and in control. She's getting the best roles and continues to work extra-hard on all of them. Recently, they dubbed her voice in an alien voice and released a Hindi version of "Chokher Bali".

"I was appalled. I had offered to dub in Hindi myself. Still they chose to quietly and quickly sneak a Hindi version into theatres while I was away in London."

Now Aishwarya is willing to have the dubbed "Chokher Bali" revoked from the market, so she can dub her lines and let a more authentic version be screened.

Aishwarya Rai is a perfectionist. In a world where actresses generally believe in a anything goes attitude and run for marriage the minute the opportunity shows up, she strives to be the first real female superstar from Bollywood. What's wrong with that?

It could be because the Mumbai media genuinely find her plastic and artificial, as they love to remind readers. But the reason for the severe hostility could be entirely self-motivated.

Aishwarya doesn't talk to the press as freely as some of her colleagues. Many of the most powerful stars in Mumbai have eaten crow and patched up with the very magazines that have hurt them and their images the most.

Not Aishwarya Rai. The magazines that have been the nastiest to her are still smarting under the snub she has so effectively delivered them. They've tried every trick in the book to make her speak. When they've failed to move her into submission they've damned her dreams.

"I'll never do anything to compromise my family and my principals" - She already did (Salman Khan). At one time she said she'll never do kissing scenes then she did for that film with Vivek. She said she'll never work with Salman, then she said she will for Bajirao Mastani. I think this constant changind-of-mind doesn't fare well on her. Plus, she never was a good actress anyway, like most other models-turned-actresses.