Aishwarya Rai

‘That’s right,’ said media recluse Aishwarya. ‘Rohan and I have been friends for ages. When his name cropped up for the new Lux commercial, I immediately grabbed it. We shot the ad in Dubai and it’s turned out really hot,’ the actress told.

Talk veers to rumours that Aishwarya has not been giving ample time to the promotion of her films.

‘Not true at all! I’ve been virtually living out of suitcases, running from location to location all over the world, trying to get my four new films ready. Even then I’ve always made myself available for the promotion of all my films.’

She admits being hard pressed for time during the release of ‘Mistress Of Spices’, and therefore being unable to participate in the promos.

‘I nevertheless agreed to a number of one-on-ones on the film. What could I do if the press persons were looking for more spice than I could give them about the film?’ she laughed, dodging all questions on her personal life.

Right now, she’s all set to promote Jag Mundhra’s ‘Provoked’ in a big way.

‘Provoked’ is the harrowing tale of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a battered Punjabi housewife and mother of two who is beaten and raped by her alcoholic husband.

‘It’s a film and theme I completely believe in. I suggested we get the real Kiranjit Ahluwalia, whom I play, into the promotional loop for ‘Provoked’.

‘As for me not dubbing my lines in the Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions, I speak Punjabi in the original English version of the film. So, the Punjabi version needs no dubbing from me.

For the Tamil and Telugu versions I’ve asked them to get professional dubbing artistes who speak in these languages. How would I sound speaking in Tamil and Telugu? I don’t think Hrithik (Roshan) dubbed for the South Indian versions of ‘Krrish’.’

Her last word on the bikini controversy in ‘Dhoom 2′ — ‘Thank god people have stopped talking about it. It was never me.’