Ash goes to Hollywood

HOLLYWOOD REEL/ Aishwarya Rai is on her way to being signed by Hollywood studios

Aishwarya Rai is to
appear in ''Chaos'',
starring Meryl Streep

It was half past one on an April afternoon in Detroit this year. The receptionist at the Westin Hotel had been inundated by calls for an Indian guest at the hotel.

The callers were kept waiting as the guest, Aishwarya Rai, was on the phone to her manager Simone Sheffield and discussing her meetings with film producers in Los Angeles.

Among the pending to-do lists and scripts was my request for her to inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, 2004. Breaking through the commotion she told me: "Absolutely anything for the Indian cinema industry "� I will make time and be there for the inauguration."

Rai officially opened the Indian Pavilion at Cannes on May 13 and was the toast of all the world's photographers as she walked on the red carpet at the festival.

A week before Cannes Film Festival, all the major Hollywood trade magazines announced that Indian cinema's highest paid actre-ss and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai was to star alongside Brendan Fraser in Roland Joffe's next film "Singularity."

Previously titled "The Invaders" with a reported budget of $40m, the film revo-lves around the first battle between English invaders and the Maratha dynasty from western India. The shooting begins in September in India and also stars Vivek Oberoi.

Rai has also agreed to appear in Coline Serreau's "Chaos," a film starring Meryl Streep. "Chaos" is to be shot in early 2005 in British Columbia and is a remake of the French director's social drama revolving around a bourgeois French couple.

Rai has also been linked with Barton Randall's "I Know A Place" and "Mistress Of Spices" with producers Deepak Nayar and Gurinder Chadha.

Rai is also to star in the IMAX presentation "Taj Mahal," for release in 2005. She portrays the role of Queen Mumtaz, for whom the Taj Mahal was constructed. She has just completed filming "Bride And Prejudice," a re-working of the Jane Austin classic, directed by Gurinder Chadha, which is to be released in October 2004.

Says Rai: "I had such a blast working with Gurinder we shot all over and the crew moved from Goa to Amritsar to Los Angeles to the UK."

Rai's credits include "Jeans," "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam," "Chokher Bali" and "Devdas." The last was premiered at Cannes 2002. Having worked in a variety of Indian roles and various Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil and Bengali, Rai feels she is ready for a mainstream Hollywood feature.

"I feel that as an actor I am growing with each film and I look at myself as hopefully a world actor working in world cinema."

Rai, who is repped in Hollywood by William Morris Agency, burst upon the world stage, winning the Miss World crown in 1994. Last year Rai became the first Indian actor to be a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

She is the new face of L'Oreal and has been on the cover of "Time" magazine, besides being listed among the top 100 most influential people in the world today.

She was also listed in the annual "Who's Hot" issues of "Rolling Stone" and "Stuff" magazines. "Daily Variety's" critic Derek Elley described her as "almost Audrey Hepburn-like", "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann said that he loved her in "Devdas" and Julia Roberts calls her "the world's most beautiful woman."

No wonder major Hollywood producers are seriously considering her for the main leads in their feature films. Earlier Rai was on the shortlist to play Helen of Troy in Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy," the biggest box office hit in the US and was screened at Cannes.

Says Rai: "An interesting mix of scripts is being offered to me. I am a newcomer in Hollywood but picky about the choices I am making "� Indians will be proud of the choices I make in the West."

With "Singularity" and "Chaos," Rai is on her way to being signed by Hollywood studios for future roles and she may well become the first Indian crossover star.

Though Indian actors have in the past played important roles in Hollywood movies (Persis Khambatta's Lieutenant Ilia in the first instalment of the "Star Trek" movies, Amrish Puri's Mola Ram in Stephen Spielberg's "Temple of Boom," Victor Banerjee's Dr. Aziz in David Lean's "Passage to India" and Naseer Shah "Nemo" in LXG) none has created the impact Rai has till now.

There is no doubt that Aishwarya Rai and Indian talent are getting renewed attention in Hollywood and the day may not be far off when the Academy Award for Best Actor or Actress will be awarded to an Indian.

(Lall is the president and CEO of LALL Entertainment, a company based in Los Angeles and New Delhi. He can be contacted at lallentertainment@hotmail.com).