In a 2016 interview, Aishwarya Rai spoke about her bold roles and why she avoids doing intimate scenes as much as possible.

Aishwarya Rai got candid about portraying intimate moments on screen in an old interview. The actor was asked about her intimate scenes with Ranbir Kapoor in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) during an interview with Filmfare in 2016 when she called herself a ‘vocal and intelligent actor’. She said she ‘does not want to do the predictable’, saying she’s a ‘liberated actor, but it doesn’t mean shedding clothes or shedding inhibitions’. Also read | I wasn’t very comfortable with kiss in Dhoom 2: Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. (File Photo)

‘I was okay with projecting intimacy without contact’

Aishwarya said, “Post Chalte Chalte there was a sudden erasure of work and simultaneously a huge welcome from the West. I promised myself then that no one would decide my future. So Bride And Prejudice happened. It had a kiss in the script. But I said, ‘Gurinder (Chadha, director) we can avoid it, because it isn’t crucial to your story.’ And you don’t miss it between Martin Henderson and me at all’. During that phase, I also did Shabd. There wasn’t a kiss but there was intimacy shown by a female director (Leena Yadav). (Laughs) We filmed it in a way and joked that it could be my show reel to the West. I was okay with projecting intimacy without contact. Because I knew how much a kiss with me would be discussed.”

On her kiss with Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom

Aishwarya also spoke about her much-talked-about kissing scene with Hrithik Roshan from their 2006 film Dhoom 2, and added, “We came to Dhoom 10 years into my career, by which point a kiss had become a familiar sight. So, with the changing times, you consider what could be shocking or not with a sense of responsibility. A social and visual comfort comes with the changing times. You gauge that keeping your comfort space in mind. When I did the kiss in Dhoom, we decided to treat it in a scene. There’s a dialogue in the kiss. It’s not like there’s a crescendo music and just a kiss. Hrithik and I don’t run into each other’s arms.”

In July, Aishwarya’s regal looks grabbed eyeballs at Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant’s wedding festivities in Mumbai. She was spotted at the wedding with her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, while husband-actor Abhishek Bachchan attended the festivities with the rest of the Bachchan family.