Aishwarya Rai On Why She's Not Offered 'Roles With Complexities: That's A Question Everybody Keeps Asking

On Thursday, Aishwarya Rai walked the red carpet for the first time at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Wearing a silver and grey gown, she certainly made heads turn. But before making her debut at Cannes 2023, Aishwarya talked about her last release, ‘Ponniyin Selvan: II (PS2)’, and the 'silent question' everyone keeps asking about her career.

During her interview with NDTV, Aishwarya was asked why Bollywood does not offer her roles with complexities, depth like ‘PS 2’. To which, she quipped, "Well that's a silent question I think everybody normally ends up asking. We are all creative people, when something turns out so good and feels so right, creatively for the people working on it, as well as for the audience, that's the response it evokes. I think one of the most beautiful and most rewarding moments is when questions like these arise for the actors, the leading ladies..."

Aishwarya further talked about ‘PS2’, “There's a reason we salute Mani Ratnam and directors like him, who do create work like this, and that's why it is such a pleasure for us as artistes to work with them, and to come away with results like this and movies like this, where we are proud of the work we have done. We feel immensely satisfied and Ponniyin Selvan has definitely been immensely satisfying for all of us...”

‘Ponniyin Selvan: II’ is the second instalment of the period drama based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's popular historical novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ (The Son Of Ponni). Along with Aishwarya, the film also starred Vikram, Trisha, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi. It was released in theatres on April 28.

Produced by Lyca Productions, the first part of magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, just like the second part, was one of the biggest box office hits of the year.