/> This could be Aishwarya Rai's dazzling comeback to form. Her performance in Provoked, Jagmohan Mundra's elegiac look at domestic values, is one of the big talking points at Cannes already.

When congratulated for her performance Ash smiled, "The performance is straight from the heart. And you can see it. No artifice here at all. I feel completely for Kiranjit Ahluwalia and all other victims of domestic violence."

Provoked producer Dr J. Murli Manohar pulled off a cutting coup for his film when on Wednesday for the premiere of Provoked at Cannes he convinced the real Kiranjit Ahluwalia to share the stage with her stunning celluloid avatar.

Minutes before the screening on Wednesday night, Kiranjit Ahluwalia got cold feet and refused to go into the theatre in Cannes to re-live the trauma of her own life. It was Aishwarya Rai who plays Kiranjit in Provoked who convinced Kiranjit to watch the film.

Kiranjit wept throughout the film. Many scenes showing domestic violence were too close to home for her comfort and Kiranjit had to shut her eyes to keep away the memories. She was specially moved by the scenes showing Kiranjit's anguish in prison at being separated from her children.

"The younger son was exactly the way my own younger one looked when I was in prison." Kiranjit sobbed.

Speaking from Cannes the producer Mrs Sunanda Murli said, "Kiranjit was very reluctant to make any public appearance. But we convinced her of how imperative it was for her to be here to share this moment with Aishwarya. The film is Kiranjit's story and we finally convinced her to come. It's a historic moment."

Adds Aishwarya, "I never met Kiranjit before accepting the film. I didn't want to get influenced in my performance. But the film is finally a triumphant fable of her struggle and victory against oppession."

While at Cannes Ash is also expected to be finalized for the lead in the third part of Brett Ratner's Jackie Chan action-comedy Rush Hour.

Not only that. Ash is the face and Brand Ambassador for L'Oreal who are the sponsors of the Festival.

Provoked was premiered at Cannes tonight with a press conference on May 19. The producers of the Rai-starrer Last Legion Tarak Ben Ammar & Dino DeLaurentiis will hold a private party for Ash.

She will also complete her remaining dubbing for Last Legion in Nice, France during her brief stay and will try to get a sneak preview of the film.

For the opening ceremony Ash wore a tightly fitted black Armani couture gown. The following evening she wore a deep-blue couture gown by Roberto Cavalli. Both evenings she dazzled in jewels by De Grisogno of Geneva.