The time of her life

With a spate of upcoming releases, the next year could well belong to Aishwarya Rai.

For a brand ambassador of an "elegant" watch company, it is not really becoming to arrive an hour behind schedule for a bout of ribbon-cutting.

But no one is complaining when Aishwarya Rai arrives, a new svelte look in place, several pounds lighter from what you may have seen in her last full-fledged film release (forget "Kajra re" just for a moment) and the trademark giggle very much present to launch Longines' latest line.

As the cameras whirl and flashbulbs pop, Rai twirls and pirouettes, obliges one and all, and the photographers obviously can't have enough of her.

"Ashji," chimes one, "this side please, Madam," bellows another, "look here," a third asks her to hold up the watch to her face in what could be just the pose for a Women's Era cover girl "" showing off bangles! Rai remains unflustered, cool, very much a highly-paid professional at work.

As the cameras are finally persuaded to back off, she takes the mike and a short Q&A is announced. But the actress clearly has other things on her mind.

"Would you like one-on-ones instead?" she asks the waiting media contingent. India's most reticent, most politically correct star wants to talk today and everyone jumps up as if invited to a feast "" and no, we are not talking about the lunch that has just been served.

If Rai wants to talk, she does have a lot to talk about this year. After not-so-successful attempts to break into Hollywood (no, she will not play a Bond girl, her official website says conclusively; and her market is France and Europe, not just Hollywood, it points out), sporadic dalliances with international fame (courtesy Oprah, Cannes and Will Smith, who apparently asked her if she would act in his film; no news of the venture ever since) and public appearances representing India (for her three-minute dance sequence at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, she was allegedly paid Rs 3 crore), Rai is very much back in action in the world of Hindi cinema.

"But I have never been away," she protests earnestly if you mention this. Yet, the fact remains that the actress will be seen on screen after a long break in a spate of big-budget, back-to-back releases starting November, her birthday month.

The Rai-starrers start with JP Dutta's remake, Umrao Jaan, go on to Dhoom 2 and finally Guru, the Mani Ratnam film, this year end, where she stars, once again, opposite Abhishekh Bachchan ("please don't believe in these rumours", she cautions the media, referring to reports that they are more than just colleagues).

Besides this there is Provoked in the art-house league, directed by London-based Jag Mundhra, that has been doing the rounds of various film festivals and that may also find a release in India this winter.

With Rai making so many screen appearances this year, it would be fair to say that 2006 indeed belongs to her.

But the act that everyone has their eyes on is surely Umrao Jaan, what with Rai stepping into Rekha's shoes.

Though Dutta and the entire team associated with the project takes care to stress the fact that the film does not aim at creating an authentic period ambience and ethos the way Muzzaffar Ali's did and that the treatment is quite different, there are bound to be comparisons between the two lead actresses. Will Rai live up to Rekha's portrayal? Will she dance as beautifully? And will she look just as sensuous? These are questions that everyone is asking?

For now, the world's most beautiful woman is looking beautiful enough in the promos even though she confesses that she found the urdu tough. That and emulating a quintessential Lucknow courtesan's grace.

"Ada", she giggles, "anything we would do, Mr Dutta would say, 'do it with ada, style'." There were other challenges too "" one of the scenes, shot in January, required her to be in a pool.

"We've been in chiffons in Switzerland and those kind of things but this was the coldest I have been," the actress giggles yet again as she gives a byte to a TV crew.

In Dhoom 2, on the other hand, it is a very different-looking Rai that one can expect "" switching from the ornate courtesan's guise to cat-suits. For this time round Rai plays a gangster's moll, opposite Hrithik Roshan. A very fit moll at that, if you have seen the Mission Impossible-inspired sequences.

The schedule for the film was apparently split into two parts and Rai, who had to put on some weight for Guru, allegedly based loosely on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani though it is described as an intense love story, lost much of it in just three weeks for the latter schedule.

The actress is suitably grateful for the chance to play "so many different roles" and put in a good word for all her forthcoming films with the audiences "" "it will be a treat for them," she says.

If it gets screened in India this winter, Provoked will be a treat for connoisseurs. In a completely de-glamourised role, Rai plays a battered Punjabi housewife in London who murders her husband. Director Mundhra is candid about why he cast Rai in such an unlikely role "" "if you have a star, a known face, in a film like this it helps," he says.

But Rai lives up to the challenge and delivers a very real performance, dismissing the fears of sceptics who thought she couldn't act. Finally, there is also the English film, The Last Legion, in the Rai kitty. It is another "crossover" venture, if we must use that confused term, where the actress stars opposite Colin Firth, who, she giggles "is great fun" to work with. Not to mention Ashutosh Gowariker's Akbar-Jodha where she is paired opposite Roshan.

These last two films will take us well into 2007. So will that be Rai's year too?