Aishwarya never dreamed of being an actress, model or any of the things she is today. So ages 18-21 onward was when it all began for her aside from the modelling assignments she did for her late professor (God rest her soul). The people who pre-viewed the show erroneously reported that Aishwarya has done nothing but toot her own horn throughout, I guess they must have missed the bits where she gave nods to India (she won the miss world title for India not for Aishwarya), the other girls in the her miss world competition whom she felt had better bodies than she did, dispelled common misconceptions about India and Indians, explained why she code-switches (the accent thing), she even admitted that Dhoom II was a mostly visual film with just a little bit of acting along the way (did you hear that Filmfare?) She had been associated with the UN for ten years before her UN-AIDS global ambassador appointment and only said yes when she could fully devote time to the cause. She said she was never interested in taking up films solely for their potential box office prospects which is evident with her repertoire. She is uncomfortable with kissing on-screen (Dhoom II was a trial that got an epic reaction) which is probably why she turned down all those Will Smith films and TROY which she actually mentioned. She didn’t even skip a beat when both her ex-boyfriends Salman Khan (thrice at that) and Vivek Oberoi were featured in her timeline, a true professional. And can I just say that her analysis of kissing in Hindi cinema was spot on, when you watch a Hollywood film, kissing is as normal as dialogue (in my humble opinion) but in a Bollywood film when things start to remotely point in the direction of any romantic physicality between the protagonists it does become a separate entity of which we (the audience) will surely discuss in-depth after watching… depending on how famous the people essaying the protagonists are/were. She discussed TROY for the first time and insinuated that she was up for the role of Helen of Troy not Breseis as commonly speculated and previously reported. Also, to the people who claim there’s nothing new here, the last time she was on Oprah this wasn’t the same conversation she was having, when she was on the Tyra Banks show, the conversation was different as well as it was on the David Letterman show and so on. Her charity work has never been discussed in-depth like this before. Nobody is so boring that nothing changes in their life or that they have no new stories to tell. By now you must all know her pedigree. Hope you enjoyed the drama, she leading a very real “NORMAL” life with her baby. Keep talking.
FYI: Per, Sir Frost’s final question, Abhishek has done more films than Aishwarya, she has done 41 and he has done 59 including guest appearances and the stuff that is in preproduction as of the time of this interview, which was an excellent interview might I add.
VW
Voiceswriter 
Everything she said in the Frost interview, I have heard before……
I would love an Interview with Abhishek as long as they don’t again ask him questions about Aishwarya. Abhishek is intelligent and humorous…..and honest…. neverything he says would not be for effect.
Liz
Liz, the thing with Aishwarya is that she is very guarded and has always been, I think it’s worse now that she is married. In my opinion I think she feels she needs to live up to her reputation as a role model and so-called “good girl” which is why she doesn’t let go in her interviews the way people expect her to. For me, as a fan there was a lot discussed in the interview that was new to me, for example her discussing in depth her link to the movie ‘Troy’ for the first time(note that she only talked about this because she was asked and perhaps because Brad Pitt also mentioned it in an interview recently), her discussing why she accepted her UN appointment and how the UN had been courting her for years and how she was offered Bollywood roles even during her modelling days before the Miss World title. She even explained why she adjusts her accent when speaking to foreigners, at least she admits she does it unlike others. Others if given such an opportunity would have dropped the names of all the roles they were offered and should have played and some might even go the controversial route saying that they think or believe they would have played the role better that the actual actress who eventually got to play it. People say she never pays compliments to anyone else besides herself but in this interview I heard her complimenting her mother and father-in-law, her fellow pageant contenders and her directors among others. She did seem like she was holding back on a lot of things but then again that’s what makes Aishwarya, Aishwarya. She is mysterious and likes to keep them guessing. Many current actresses in Bollywood have tried to copy this albeit to disastrous effects. I’ll refrain from naming names but if anyone knows Bollywood you know exactly who these copycats are. Also, Aishwarya saying that she has never dieted nor does she ever work out even though she thinks she should is also breaking news in the sense that; it would mean that all that baby weight she gained and was publicly ridiculed for came off by itself.
I thought the interview was kinda like “Bollywood 4 dummies” or “Bollywood 101″… I thought Frost or his team could have done more research before coming up with their questions. I was hoping he would dig a bit deeper to show us a side of her that we didn’t know. But it was OK and definitely a big honour for her.
Yeah but if he had over-rehearsed people would have wondered how he knew so much about about her or Indian cinema. What they should have done was interact with her fans online and taken like ten questions to randomly throw at her throughout the course of the interview. It would have also been nice to see AIshwarya show the behind-the-scenes of a typical movie shoot or show some never-before-footage of some of her old films which she could have obtained before hand from directors like Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Ram Gopal Verma or Mani Ratnam. They could have done an anatomy of a scene whereby he’d show a clip and she’d discuss how she got into character like the fight scenes from Last Legion and Jodhaa Akbar. She could have gone to the dance theatre of the whistling woods academy and dance with some of the dance students showing Frost the various types of Indian dances etc. etc. But we also have to keep in mind that Frost’s core audience doesn’t know as much as we do about Bollywood.
@Voicewriter Yeah I mean I’m dying to see an interview where she does all the things you mention, and I’m really wondering why nobody does it in India! They always ask the same questions again and again, especially in Cannes (like “So Aishwarya, it has been 12 years now that you’ve come to Cannes, what does it mean to you?” and of course always the same answer…haha).
As for the Frost interview, I liked it though I thought it was mainly redondant, but that’s ok I guess, it’s because we know all about her already…hehe. And like you I thought the stuff on Troy and kissing in Dhoom II very interesting, it really showed the mind behind all the career choices.
But what I REALLY would like to see Ash do, it’s answering on questions about favourites! She never picks a fav or name someone and at some point I just want her to speak her mind!!!!!!! Maybe when she is older she’ll be less guarded.. Hopefully!
(It’s Mel by the way)
Hi Mel, yeah I know it’s you, I can see your gravatar. =). I’ve deduced that people don’t use their common sense when it comes to Aishwarya, they just love to criticise her so they’re not going to try and make sense of anything she says that sounds odd or give her the benefit of the doubt if they mishear or misread something. Also, it’s a rule of thumb, if you ask the same questions, expect the same answers but the naysayers don’t see it that way, they would rather chop it up to her repeating herself or giving rehearsed answers.
I too would like for her to pick favourites and tell us who inspires her but she has grown wise over the years and knows every possible way the media can twist her words which is why she chooses what she says wisely. Very rarely does she name-drop or talk about others because she knows her words can easily be taken out of context and made into a bigger deal than necessary.
I know she is wary of the media but still, I’d love her to make an effort on that front. As for the media they should be more original in interviews and less stupid with controversies… Amen.
(The only thing we know about her preferences among current actresses is the answer she gave in Koffee with Karan, that she thinks Kareena is better than Priyanka, and frankly that’s not a lot… (Plus I don’t like that answer loool)).
I actually agree with Aishwarya on that. PC is great but Kareena is the better actress of the two + you also have to take into consideration the fact that at the time Aish made that statement, PC’s acting hadn’t improved to the level it is at today.
I don’t know I guess I’ll have to see more movies with the two of them. But as for now they are quite equivalent to me…
Also what I think is admirable from Aishwarya is the fact that despite ALL the criticism Kareena made about her (and she must be aware of it), she never bitched back, and even like her as an actress! (because let’s be real here, most of people would never praise someone who criticize them…). And now that Kareena has calm down concerning Ash, I wonder if it’s because she saw Ash never showed animosity towards her and realized she was being stupid. So in the end, Ash won without even fighting! Hehe 🙂
I agree. Killing them with kindness. =)
Aish follows this Buddhist principle: Smile as abuse is hurled your way and this too shall pass.
Sorry for the bad grammar ^^
What bad grammar? LOL =D