At a glittering event where the past fused with the future, Bollywood's leading lady Aishwarya Rai unveiled J.P. Dutta's "Umrao Jaan" on the popular digital entertainment platform - Reliance Mobile World.

The launch event of "Umrao Jaan" on the high-speed mobile entertainment platform was held across 17-cities through a videoconference at Reliance World Thursday evening.

"'Umrao Jaan' is a film that brings Indian music and culture to the youth and cutting edge technology, made available by Reliance Communications is the best way to reach the real audience - the new generation of cinema lovers," said Dutta who was also present at the event.

Talking to the press Ash dismissed any comparison between her performance in the movie and that of Rekha in the original version by Muzaffar Ali.

"Comparisons have been made up by the media. But when I went to shoot the movie, I went with a clean slate of mind. I only followed the instructions given to me by my director," Rai said.

Asked whether she had drawn inspiration from Rekha's portrayal of the central character, Rai said "having watched the movie on television and the songs being part of film folklore, I did have a visual image of the character. But as far as content was concerned, I went in with a clean slate".

Terming the role as an "educating experience," she said "as someone who takes great pride in Indian culture, it was a great experience to learn about the kind of language, clothes and lifestyle that was prevalent in the times that the story is based in. It gave me a new insight into our culture."

The movie, which also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, will be released on November 3.

Asked why she and Abhishek had not been seen at promotional events together, she said "it is merely because of our schedules. There is no other reason."

The video clips, wallpapers and ring tones of "Umrao Jaan" would be immediately available on Reliance Mobile World.

Said Reliance Communications head, marketing and product management, Sunil Buch: "It has always been our endeavour to take the cutting edge technology to the doorstep of the common man.

"Thanks to our broadband platform and pan-India reach with 241 broadband outlets in 105 cities, we created ground level excitement about the film 'Umrao Jaan' by conducting an online quiz contest."

Out of 5000 customers, who participated in the online quiz, 60 winners from 16 cities got a chance to meet up with Aishwarya through video conferencing.