I look at cinema as Indian cinema: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Mumbai: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan said she feels drawn towards acting opportunities that will help her grow as an artist.

The 49-year-old actor, who has acted in Hindi and Tamil films like ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Dhoom 2’, ‘Guru’, ‘Iruvar’, ‘Enthiran’ and ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, said she doesn’t differentiate between cinema as North and South.

“I look at cinema as Indian cinema. I had the opportunity to convey that subtly but strongly and clearly in the work that I did right from the beginning. I do not support this view that there is no work here, so go there (south) and vice versa. As an actor, wherever we get the opportunity to shine, learn, grow and be able to do fabulous work, it naturally draws you,” Aishwarya told reporters at the trailer launch press conference of ‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’.

In the South film industry, the actor said she is grateful to have collaborated with stalwarts like Mani Ratnam, Shankar and AR Rahman.

“I was blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Mani garu in my first film. Why wouldn’t I say yes? Thereafter, I got to work with wonderful directors like Rajiv Menon and Shankar, so naturally, I will say yes to these movies that I have done, the proof is in the pudding,” she said.

She added, “Besides, all the films have AR Rahman’s music. Why wouldn’t I happily say yes to these incredible combinations of talent? It’s not about going here or there. Since the beginning of my career, I have made it clear with my choices that I don’t follow these thought processes and systems and that’s never been my journey and reason for my choices.”

In her career of over 20 years, Aishwarya has forged successful collaborations with celebrated filmmaker Mani Ratnam. The two have worked together on ‘Iruvar’, ‘Raavanan’ and the two-part magnum opus movie ‘Ponniyin Selvan’.

Aishwarya said her answer to a Mani Ratnam movie will always be ‘yes’.

“You can call it adoration, devotion, thankfulness or love. Label it whatever you want to. The point is it will always be a yes. But why wouldn’t it be a yes? Any actor deeply aspires to work with him. When that name or message flashes on the phone, you cannot imagine the excitement,” she said.

‘Ponniyin Selvan: II’ is the second part of filmmaker Mani Ratnam's screen adaptation of author Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 Tamil novel of the same name.