Why  Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan is ‘extra-sentimental’ about her royal character ‘Nandini’ in Mani Ratnam-directed mega-movie ‘PS-2’ ?  By  Chaitanya Padukone

Once a ‘Miss World’ always a evergreen beauty-queen ! Yes, that then is beautiful versatile actress Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan who was the royal scene-stealer at the pre-release media event of her multi-lingual action-drama-romance spectacular mega-movie Ponniyin Selvan-2  . Which directed by the  revered veteran film-maker Mani Ratnam.  The movie releases Pan-India this Friday (April 28).  Along with Mani Ratnam, the primary cast of  PS-2  including  Vikram, Sobhita Dhulipal, stunning Trisha, Jayam Ravi and Karthi and of course maestro music director A R Rahman   Keeping her long hair-tresses open,  gorgeous Aishwarya made an amazing  impact, clad in a stunning sparkling cream-ivory anarkali suit. She had paired it with a glittering  emerald necklace

During the event, Aishwarya and Mani Ratnam shared sentimental moments when the versatile star-actress touched her mentor-Guru’s feet as a respectful gesture.  Mani Ratnam  has worked with Aishwarya  previously in  four films including her  Tamil debut movie Iruvar  (1997)  The legendary yet unassuming director clarified that he did not cast  Aishwarya Rai as a lucky-mascot  although he admires her acting skills.  In a candid reaction Mani said, , "Filmmakers are very selfish, only thing that they care for is the film. However much I love her (Aishwarya), I will cast her only if I think she is right for the role and she has been nice enough to say yes."  On hearing this, an emotionally overwhelmed Aishwarya immediately got up from her seat and touched director Ratnam’s  feet amidst applause. It is well-known that Aishwarya shares a family bonding with Mani-Sir.

It may be recalled that  Aishwarya Rai had  convincingly played the lead role of Nandini in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). The Salman Khan-Ajay Devgun starrer became a mega musical hit and even today her character  Nandini is still etched in the hearts of the audience. In  Ponniyin Selvan (both the parts),  her lead role is once again called ‘Nandini’. When asked, if she has a special sentimental connect with the character name she shares, "What a coincidence, even ‘Nandini’ in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was very memorable. She lives in people's hearts and I am so thankful that I got to play Nandini, then too, and she's remained special to the audience and of course to me. That movie was with Sanjay Leela Bhansali ji. And today, of course, with Mani-gaaru (Ratnam) I got to play a different historical  Nandini again in Ponniyin Selvan. That's tremendously a blessing to have gotten a chance to play such strong, multi-layered women-centric characters that touched the lives of so many women out there. There is a long-lasting audience- relatability, and I am grateful for that," reacted Aishwarya.

Recently, Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan's daughter Aaradhya had reportedly moved Delhi High Court against certain YouTube channels for reporting fake news about her health. When asked, at the PS-2 trailer launch, whether such irrelevant, viral, news content does hurt one emotionally, she said, "It's so nice that a member from the media only is recognizing that it does exist. So, that gives us a great hope that you are obviously not going to perpetuate that, you are not going to encourage that and thank you very much for your wise recognition of the negative impact of false writing or unnecessary writing which is insensitive and unnecessary. So, thank you so much for your support, for the sentiment that you shared and for your wisdom for recognizing that."