Aishwarya Rai @ 51: Tracing the seven stages of love through the Tamil films of Indian cinema icon

Each of her films in the southern sojourn were handcrafted to perfection to showcase that Aishwarya Rai wasn’t just a beautiful face, but a wonderful performer too. And it is impressive how, in each of those seven films, despite the genres varying from historical, political drama, sci-fi comedy, epic action-adventure, literary romance, and sci-fi action, the core of her roles lay in the power of love. Through her seven films, Aishwarya Rai’s characters lived an entire life. Each of them go through the entire gamut of stages, including attraction, attachment, romance, trust, worship, madness, and death. The more you think of it, the more astounding it gets. 

So, let’s look at how Aishwarya Rai, through her Tamil films, has been the epitome of all things love. 

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Attraction – Pushpavalli/Kalpana (Iruvar) 

Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you believe in a love that will transcend ages? Do you believe in destiny? Well, even if Iruvar’s Anandan (Mohanlal) didn’t believe it wholeheartedly, the thought would have crossed him multiple times whenever he set his eyes on Kalpana (Aishwarya Rai). It is beautiful how director Mani Ratnam made Anandan see Kalpana for the first time on a big screen. It is also the first time we see the defining image of Aishwarya Rai on the big screen. Of course, we see her as the demure Pushpavalli earlier in the film, but it is not the flamboyance we associate with the Miss World.

Pushpavalli was beautiful. Kalpana was bold and beautiful. And just like how a flustered Anandan is agitated, uncomfortable, but just can’t take his eyes off the screen, we were clued into the talent of Aishwarya Rai. Anandan was attracted to her. We were attracted to her. And thus, the first step of love was complete. We were hooked in, line and sinker. But if you think Kalpana was just about attraction, you would be terribly wrong.

Watch Iruvar to know why Aishwarya Rai had one of the most explosive debuts in Tamil cinema, and how she reveled in expressing the complexities of love, right from her first film. 

Aishwarya Rai and Mohanlal in Iruvar.

Attachment – Madhumitha/Vaishnavi – Jeans 

It is very rare to see the heroine have an important role in a comic caper. Of course, she is, many a time, part of the laugh riot, but never quite in on the joke. But in Shankar’s Jeans, it is the women who are responsible for setting the stage for the humour. And by women, I mean Lakshmi playing Krishnaveni paati, and Aishwarya Rai playing the twin roles of Madhumitha and Vaishnavi. Acing comedy is always tough, and it gets tougher when the language isn’t natural to you.

But, Madhumitha, who is completely attached to Vishwanathan, has to conjure up a Vaishnavi for a completely smitten Ramamoorthy. Vishwanathan was attached to Madhumitha. Ramamoorthy was attracted to Vaishnavi. And we knew Aishwarya Rai’s attraction and attachment to cinema wasn’t just a flash in the pan. And thus, the second step of love was complete.

Watch Jeans to know how Aishwarya Rai, in a complex double action role, treaded on thin ice. The smallest of slips would have pushed her roles into the realm of taboo topics, but credit to the writing and performances that we are laughing at the incredulity, and never thinking about the nefariousness. Isn’t that the essence of a comedy of errors? 

Love – Meenakshi – Kandukondain Kandukondain 

The most important part of any romance is the time when the lovers start believing every dream is possible. In Rajiv Menon’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Aishwarya Rai played Meenakshi, a dreamer, who wants a knight in shining armour to come rescue her from a Scottish castle and hold her in his arms while saying a Bharatiyar couplet.

Her love makes her believe the world is hers for the taking, even when her world comes crashing down due to a familial dispute. But the dream doesn’t die. Even when everything around her changes, her belief in love allows her to hold onto the dream. She is even blind to someone else’s outpouring of unadulterated love because her dream is all-encompassing.

Till one fine day, destiny gives her a reality check. Then, her world crumbles. Then, the foundation of her life disintegrates. Then, she is aware of the realities of her world. Then, she realises love is not just in expecting and receiving, but also in giving and understanding. And thus, the third step of love was complete.

Watch Kandukondain Kandukondain to know how Aishwarya Rai, in a very layered role makes us fall in love with her at every instance despite the possibilities of misunderstanding the character at every instance. Is she a good person? Yes. Did she only do good things? Probably not. But shouldn’t only good things happen to someone we love. Definitely. 

Trust – Sana – Enthiran 

So, a scientist creates an android robot. He takes it home, and his mother names the robot after her second son, who passed away as a child. This scientist is already in love with a medical student. Now, when the scientist introduces this robot to the love of her life, isn’t it fair to believe that she would trust the robot to be just… a robot? Isn’t this trust the basis for all the shenanigans she does with this robot? 

That is why when Sana kisses Chitti on the cheek, it comes out of the trust in the robot’s talents. She never knew what placing a trust could do in the neural schema of a robot. She couldn’t predict what this trust could do, especially when the neural network of Chitti was corrupted using an ‘evil red chip.’ Vaseegaran is distraught about his creation working too well, and a lot more effectively than he expected. But for Sana, it was seeing the fruits of her trust being poisonous.

She saw him as a friend and a guide for life, not someone who would kidnap her from her own wedding, hold her hostage, and threaten to kill the love of her life if she doesn’t accede to his demands. That is why when the final act happens, you see her look at Chitti with a sort of trusted reverence and it is why his apology to her feels more true than anything the robot ever did in the film. And thus, the fourth step of love was complete.

Watch Enthiran to know how Aishwarya Rai returned to Tamil cinema after almost a decade to wow the audience playing a role that required her to be attracted, attached and in love with a scientist, and trusting his creation, only to face her worst nightmares, and yet, come out of all of the chaos with an understanding smile that melts the heart of the metallic android robot. 

Aishwarya Rai and Rajinikanth in Enthiran.

Worship – Ragini – Raavanan 

It is interesting how different Aishwarya Rai played the hostage in two films that had her at the control of someone who felt wronged by the actions of her partner. In Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan, the film begins with the kidnapping of Aishwarya Rai’s Ragini. She is the trump card of Vikram’s Veera, who is at loggerheads with the cops, lead by Prithviraj’s Dev. In this Ramayana redux, Aishwarya Rai plays a version of Sita, who is taken into the forest by the leader of a clan, who shows her the atrocities committed by the powerful in the name of maintaining law and order. 

Of course, Ragini isn’t going down without a fight, and gives her kidnapper sleepless nights with her feistiness, and unadulterated responses to his antics. She believes in the triumph of good over evil, and waits for her husband to come and save her from the clutches of the bad people. But Veera worships her. There is almost a reverential look whenever he sees Ragini. Why? Because he loves the woman.

But he knows she is someone else’s wife, and it leads to some of the most intricately written scenes and lines in a Mani Ratnam film. While there is no reverence from the part of Ragini, she understands the methods of their lives, and how the tools of the oppressed cannot be the same as the tools of the oppressors. 

Probably why, when Dev tricks Ragini to find out the hiding place of Veera, and shoots him dead as he falls into the valley of no return with AR Rahman’s haunting score gently caressing his head in his final descent, Ragini bursts into tears. This wasn’t because of an attachment, or attraction, or even love as we know it. This emotion was the result of feeling a sense of reverence to a man who was only trying to save his people. And thus, the fifth step of love was complete.

Watch Raavanan to see how Aishwarya Rai plays a mythical figure set in a contemporary world. She is an outsider in a world that accepts her, but knows she can never be one of them. This dissonance is wonderfully accentuated by her performance, especially as the daggers thrown from her eyes get blunt as the film progresses. 

ALSO READ: Vikram decodes chemistry with Aishwarya Rai, says she’s always been ‘somebody else’s wife’ in their films: ‘Abhishek is a very close friend’

Madness – Nandhini – Ponniyin Selvan 1 

Rage is a raw emotion that brings to life our inner demons. Just like love, rage consumes us from within, and yet, we go down that path because catharsis of a broken heart can happen in a myriad of ways. In Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan, Aishwarya Rai plays Nandhini, who exists for just one reason – Revenge against Aditya Karikalan (Vikram). This rage slowly descends into madness, and it pushes her to do things that she wouldn’t have done if certain wheels weren’t set in motion. She gaslights. She manipulates. She orchestrates murders. She plans mutinies. She tries to break the biggest kingdoms of them all. And why does she do all this? Nandini was once in love, and nothing she loved ever did her any good. 

There is a method to her madness, but it was still madness. How could she look at that empty throne with a look of pride, malice, and trepidation, all at the same time? How could her eyes make everybody dance to her wishes? She weaponised herself in this quest for revenge. Nandhini knew her madness. Nandhini knew she was beautiful. She knew she could say anything, and do everything. And thus, the sixth step of love was complete.

Watch Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 to know how Aishwarya Rai, in a complex role of an antagonist with a purpose, was at her dangerous best. And more importantly, how effective she was in the role of Nandhini, which marked her return from an almost 14-year vanavaasam from Tamil cinema. 

Death – Nandhini and Oomai Rani – Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 

Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you believe in a love that will transcend ages? Do you believe in destiny? Well, in Ponniyin Selvan Part 2, once again, Aishwarya Rai plays dual roles of Nandhini and Oomai Rani. Both of them are beautiful characters whose only flaw is that they fell in love. They were attracted to someone. They felt attached to someone. They were in love with someone. They trusted someone. They revered someone. They were mad about someone.

Just that this someone for Oomai Rani was Sundara Cholar (Prakash Raj), the king of the Chola dynasty, and this someone for Nandhini was Aditha Karikalan (Vikram), the heir apparent of the Chola dynasty. It is beautiful to see how different the romances of Oomai Rani and Nandhini are. One is baying for blood, and one is trying her best to stop the incessant bloodshed. It is a wonderful irony that the six stages of love consumes both of them towards their ends. 

Both live by the age-old idiom ‘till death do us part’ and yet, both live it on their own terms. Both Oomai Rani and Nandhini chose their paths. They chose to travel on two distinct but fiercely independent journeys. They chose their ending too. And thus, the seventh step of love was complete.

Watch Ponniyin Selvan 2 to understand how Aishwarya Rai ensured she effectively showcased the stark contrast between the two characters that were so different yet so similar. Both of them loved their men deeply. They loved them like no other could. They loved them in their own way even if that way wasn’t understood by many. They loved them till death did them part. 

Aishwarya Rai and Vikram in Ponniyin Selvan.

Basically, happy birthday Aishwarya Rai… We aren’t really happy about the long gaps between your films in Tamil, but we understand that it is not everyday you get a Kalpana, Madhumitha, Meenakshi, Sana, Ragini, and a Nandhini.