Aishwarya's Tamil stumps Rajini

Aishwarya Rai seems to have many hidden talents.

One that was recently discovered is her quick grasp of languages. And the unit which discovered this secret is none other than Shankar’s Endhiran when the pretty babe held her own against our glib-talking super-talking Superstar.

“Since Tamil isn’t really familiar territory for Aishwarya, everyone, including Rajini sir and director Shankar, was ready for several re-takes while she was memorising her lines.”

To everyone’s surprise, Aishwarya got a grip of the language in no time at all. “She was rattling off the dialogues and getting the hang of the emotions with equal skill in both the Hindi and Tamil takes. This very much impressed Rajini sir, who has waited for years to work with Aishwarya.”

When asked about the incident, Aishwarya laughs. “Regional languages have never been a problem. I did a Bengali film Chokher Bali and was able to get a hang of the complex intonations while shooting. However, they later dubbed for my character as they needed a particular sing-song tone,” she reveals.

Now, the buzz in the Endhiran unit is that they are planning to retain her Tamil lines in the final print.

Says the actress who is now in Ooty, “I’m not at familiar with Tamil and my mother tongue Tulu is very different from it. But you must remember that my first film Iruvar was in Tamil, and I had to say lengthy lines in that film. From my beginnings with Mani Ratnam in Tamil, to this film, it’s been quite a journey.”