Aishwarya Rai’s Exclusive Birthday

From winning the Miss World title in 1994 to recently being honoured with the Padma Shree award, actress Aishwarya Rai’s journey into films has been incredible. On the occasion of her birthday yesterday, she had an interview with CNN-IBN’s Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand, where she  answered her fans’ questions, which they have sent in through IBNLive.com and Twitter.

Rajeev Masand: If you could invite three people to your home for dinner who aren’t alive. Who would they be?

Aishwarya Rai: I would want to invite more that three over for dinner. Firstly, my maternal and paternal grandparents because I never had the chance to meet them. I would love to meet my parents’ parents and have a conversation with them to get to know them better. And on this side, dada ji and dadi ma because they are just so spirited. I hear so much about them. They are very present amongst us as a family. So I would have loved to get to know them. Get an incredible cultural insight and that would personally mean a lot to me.

Rajeev Masand: You are regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world. Has anyone told you you are not beautiful?

Aishwarya Rai: Well, I’ve had my days when a section of media has given me a badgering for not being able to pay attention to the apparent. I think we all ride the wave and go through the turf. But I just want to thank everybody in all humility for all the compliments. I’m only human and words do feel good so thank you.

Rajeev Masand: If you had the power to turn any one of your flop films into a success, which one would you choose?

Aishwarya Rai: Yes, I have had my fair share of flops. Actually I would choose my first one Iruvar, it was not commercially a huge success but definitely a movie that was way ahead of its time. I saw it recently again when I was filming with Mani (Mani Ratnam who also directed Iruvar). And when Abhishek and I saw it again we thought it was a brilliant piece of cinema. So that is why I think that movie deserved a wider audience.

Rajeev Masand: If you are told you are not allowed to laugh or giggle at the world’s funniest joke, would you be able to control yourself?

Aishwarya Rai: I’ve got this title of a ‘giggler’ because I’m a happy person. I love to laugh. I think its important to smile and laugh with life. Life as it is can be difficult, painful and exhausting. I see humour in strange things, sometimes at the tone of questions and at times because I have a flip answer going on in my mind but I’m answering it straight. So I actually laugh more at normal things in life than at a funny joke. Full