Aishwarya who plays an Urdu poetess in Karan Johar’s recent candyfloss Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has made at least three comeback attempts in the last two years. It is yet another shot by Ash, as the media fondly calls her, at staying relevant in a constantly changing movie-land now flushed with younger stars like Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and countless others.
Is it an attempt to get back on top? Is it the case of ‘once an actor, always an actor’? Or is it simply an instance of a professional resuming work post-motherhood (her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan will turn five later this month) when all your homely duties are over and you want to rush back to the one thing that gave you your identity – acting? In Ash’s case, one would like to believe the last scenario holds true.
She may be one of the leading protagonists of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, a mixed-bag critically but could well end up being a box-office hit but Ash is by no means the film’s biggest star. The much-younger Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar, and even Fawad Khan, enjoy more box-office clout than does Mrs Bachchan.
Somehow, her star power has rarely translated into ticket conversions. Ask any trade pundit and they will admit in private that casting Ash in a film is no guarantee of its box-office success. She has more duds than hits in her filmography.
Consider her last two films: Sanjay Gupta’s Jazbaa, in which she made a comeback as a single mom who is forced to defend a criminal as a lawyer. This was a meaty role. But the audience was left wanting for more. Earlier this year, she attempted a second comeback, with the true-life Sarabjit. This time, the critics were scathing. Many were of the opinion that while Ash had the benefit of an author-backed role, she frittered the golden chance away. If you go strictly by the film’s reviews, her on-screen brother Randeep Hooda stole her thunder.
