Yash Raj films' Dhoom simply turned around the John Abraham's career yet producer Aditya decided to rope in a fresh appeal for Dhoom 2. He went ahead and roped in even bigger stars like Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai for the role of the villains.

So far this year, Ash fans in India have had to be content with seeing the Bollywood beauty on the small screen endorsing brands or gracing events such as the Cannes film festival. Rai's only film released in 2006, Provoked has still to do the rounds in India.

However, despair not. The seemingly interminable wait to see the enchanting Bollyood beauty, larger than life on the silver screen, is now nearing its end. Incidently, the wait was not because Rai had too few assignment on hand but because she had too many of them.

Speaking about the diversity of her roles in the forthcoming films Aishwarya told a TV channel, "What's nice about these three films coming up is that each character is distinctly different. So while Umrao Jaan is a courtesan a lot more ornate visually while Dhoom is very contemporary and racy...something that you have not seen me do.

The actor will soon be seen in four big ticket films in quick succession. The bonanza starts with JP Dutta's Umrao Jaan. Next in line are Yash Raj Films Dhoom 2, followed by Mani Ratnam's Guru. Finally, we will see her on 19 Jan 2007 in the $67 million Hollywood period action adventure The Last Legion, distributed by MGM.

What is interesting about Rai forthcoming films is that other than herself, nothing else is common in them. The films belong to different genres, her roles in them are diverse and the filmmakers that made them are a breed apart. All indications that Rai is now a matured actor.