‘Don’t like to be tagged as glamorous’

Regarded widely as the epitome of beauty and glamour, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan says she wanted to be known more for her performance than looks.

The former Miss World, 41, who is making a comeback to the big screen after five years with Jazbaa, said there was a perception in people’s mind that she will opt for glamorous role but she preferred otherwise.

“When I chose to start my career with Iruvar, I genuinely believed I was liberating myself as an actor. I came to the industry after Miss World, modelling... There was obvious perception that ‘Aishwarya Rai means glamour’.

“So when I chose to work with Mani Ratnam in a south Indian film like ‘Iruvar’, which had Mohanlal, Revathi, Tabu, I wanted to be free as an artist. I didn’t want to be in the mould of perception... I wanted to be free from this perception,” she told reporters.

In the Sanjay Gupta-directed film, which releases this Friday, Aishwarya plays a doting mother of a girl child. The mother of one took insights from her real life to portray the character of 

Anuradha Verma.