Aishwarya Rai on not having a release since 2018: ‘I’ve been a proverbial tortoise since the start of my career’

Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival for over 20 years, and she walked the red carpet once again on Wednesday, at the festival’s 75th edition. In an interview on the sidelines of the event, she spoke about her hotly anticipated acting comeback–the latest of many–and why she has never subscribed to the industry’s definition of a thriving career.
Speaking with Film Companion, Aishwarya called herself ‘the proverbial tortoise’ from the start of her career, ‘someone who will focus on her work and trudge along at a pace which is right, which is real, which is committed’. Aishwarya will next be seen in Mani Ratnam’s horical epic Ponniyin Selvan, which is due out later this year.

She said, “What happened in the last two years was a natural pause that we all took. I’ve always been someone to keep it real, that’s who I am, that’s my sense of prioritising. It’s been a really challenging two years, and my natural instinct is to focus on reality. I’ve never been one to play into the expectation of, ‘Oh my God, is time flying , why is there no release this year, how many releases do you want to put out, what is the kind of comment it might attract, what is the kind of perception it might attract’, I’ve never been one to play into perception.”
She continued, “So, naturally, when the world and our families and life is experiencing what it is, at that time, I’m so blessed I can naturally focus on reality, and not be focused on, ‘Oh my God, two years!’”
Aishwarya’s last film was the critical and commercial flop Fanney Khan, which was released in 2018. Before that, she was seen in Sarbjit and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in 2016. She also took a five-year sabbatical after 2010’s Guzaarish.