Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Reacts To Why She Is Not Offered 'Roles With Depth'

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is currently at the Cannes Film Festival 2023, speaks about the shortage of good roles in Indian film industry for female actors.

Photo courtesy: Instagram

New Delhi: Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who graced the red carpet of 76th Cannes Film Festival and turned heads at the movie gala with her shimmery outfit. Aishwarya made her debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Devdas' and has been a constant since then. 

This year, she came to the festival, riding high on the success of her recent released Tamil-language epic historical action adventure 'Ponniyin Selvan'. The film, which has been released in two parts, have been directed by Mani Ratnam, in which she plays the role of Nandini. Speaking to Anupama Chopra from Film Companion, who asked her why Hindi cinema isn't offering the actor such roles, Aishwarya replied, "Well, that's a silent question I think all creative people end up asking." 

Acknowledging that there's a shortage of complex roles for actors, particularly 'leading ladies' as Aishwarya put it, she said, "There's a reason we salute directors like Mani (Ratnam) and others like him." 

She further said, "There are directors who create work like this and that's why it's such a pleasure for us as artists to work with them and to come away with movies like this, where we are proud of the work we have done. We feel immensely satisfied during the creative process and then of course, with the reaction and the response of the audience. 'Ponniyin Selvan: II' has definitely been immensely satisfying for all of us and we are so grateful and overjoyed with the response. I'm extremely thankful and happy."

Speaking to Film Companion about her experience of working with the legendary filmmaker Mani Ratnam and how he's able to tap into something that many filmmakers can't, Aishwarya said, "Mani, because he has worked with me so often, he's always like, "You can do it'." 

On her own working process during the 'Ponniyin Selvan' films, she said, "I'm always on sets with my notebook, looking like a student working on my dialogues and these were in Tamil, which was a different language for me, so I would constantly work on it and see how I would play the dialogue out."

The global star also shared her thoughts on women empowerment in cinema and poured her heart out saying, "In an ideal world, there shouldn’t be reason to have to try so hard where we collectively have to work at bringing more attention to the fact that we women do belong, we exist, we make our mark and contribute very strongly in all the aspects of filmmaking. It's about being feminine and a feminist. At the end of the day, if we together stand by women and work towards strengthening their empowerment, so be it let's take that step."

Iconic indeed! 

On the work front, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be next seen in an Indian Tamil-language action comedy titled 'Jailer' alongside superstar Rajinikanth.