Aishwarya is Reigning Queen of Bollywood

Aishwarya in 2010: Number 1

By Piyali Dasgupta

Hrithik as Ramon Sampedro? Akshay Kumar as Benjamin Button? No way. I'd much rather watch Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (ARB) jiving and air-drumming. At 36, she is Bollywood's most bankable actor.

So 2010 didn't begin very well. Those pesky baby rumours surfaced again and left her angry and depressed. Pa Bachchan jumped to her defence and demanded an apology from the Mumbai tabloid for invading her personal space. Once that was settled, better things happened like the annual Cannes outing.

The heavily embroidered, sheer taupe sari paired with a sleeveless blouse, accentuated her stunning good looks. No red carpet faux paus - hair, make up, accessories, all were in perfect order.

Alas, all good things must come to an end so Raavan came along. Among all things horribly wrong with Raavan, the one right thing was ARB.

She looked translucent, ethereal and carried off the barely made up look with aplomb and made up for it with heavy doses of unadulterated glamour in Endhiran/Robot.

From tribal to Egyptian and even Barbie, ARB was the perfect palette for make up man Ojas Rajani. For scale, think of Pri's futuristic look in Love Story 2050.

The red hair and the pink bear, ugh. That was just one look compared to ARB's several. So Endhiran/Robot raked in mega crores because it a Rajnikanth film which means it comes with a guarantee to strike gold. But if anyone can stand up to Rajni, it is ARB. Others would have been vanquished.

Back to ARB's forthcoming releases -Action Replayy and Guzaarish. I sincerely hope that reverse aging is all that's common to BB and AK. Vipul Shah has said Action Replayy is as Bollywood as it can get.

Fingers crossed, because a BB remake with a Holi song (even one picturised on ARB) would be as ghastly as ghastly can get.

There's a fair buzz on Guzaarish being "inspired" by the Spanish film Mar adentro (The Sea Inside). The 2004 Javier Bardem film is based on the relationships Ramon Sampedro shares with two women.

The former sailor has been quadriplegic for twenty-eight years and is fighting in court for his right of practicing euthanasia. For now, I am looking forward to ARB air-drumming (albeit with a smug look) and the phoney puffs she takes.

ARB can carry the weight of these films on her shoulder - sort of like Rajnikanth shooting bullets with his finger.

via omg.yahoo.com