I do not detest Ashwariya Rai nor do I think she is a bad actress. What I find a little difficult to digest though, is this overwhelming and sometimes, blind, devotion to her! Granted, Ash is a stunningly beautiful women. She certainly deserved the Miss World crown in 1994. However, I also strongly believe that Sushmita Sen rightly deserved the Miss UNIVERSE crown. More than beautiful, Sushmita has a personality about her, that shines through her flawless beauty.
In my humble opinion, this fascination with Ash has gone overboard! To justify this, let's look at the following:
As an actress: she holds no candle when it comes to (for example) Rani Mukherjee. Ash certainly gives her best, but Rani is more of an actress. Rani can assume the role of many characters and pull it off superbly. With Ash, she faces the dilemma of being typecast.
As a role model: She certainly has her moments and has done a lot for charity. But so too have many others. Ash (through no direct fault on her part) is admired for the wrong reasons by many girls. They all want to be as 'beautiful and fair' as Ash. Young girls don't profess to model themselves on Ash because of her charitable work! Whereas, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das are admired for their social work and committment.
As a personality: She can be very wooden at times. She comes across as a giggly, ditzy female. To be fair to her, she probably finds the title of 'The Most Beautiful Woman in the World' daunting and hard to live up to. She needs to work on her persona OFF screen, to learn to be more confident and articulate (like, for example, Lara Dutta).
As an international icon for Indians abroad: No.... I am an Indian, born and brought up abroad. I do not find myself identifying one inkling with Ash. Many of the people I associate with, also don't identify with her in a direct way. Ash has been promoted very well. Some Public Relations Practitioner (PRP) certainly did his/her work in garnering as much coverage for Ash as possible. There has been such an aura of beauty and allure built around her, that, for many, she has come to epitomise beauty, whether she rightly deserves this title or not, does not become a point of debate!
Nandita Das was also invited to Cannes this year and she got rave reviews. If only other actresses were promoted as strongly as Ash......
