America got a glimpse of two different faces of Bollywood as Amitabh Bachchan appeared on the highly respected Charlie Rose show on PBS and Aishwarya Rai chatted with Oprah Winfrey.

Rose, known for his substantial and often cerebral method of interviewing his guests, seemed quite struck by his guest's looks, voice and overall articulation. The show last week had the weight of two engaging men talking about this and that. Amitabh came across as thoughtful and quietly self-assured.

Aishwarya, on the other hand, was full of affectations, contrived sophistication, near fake earnestness and well-rehearsed intonation in the show Tuesday.

In keeping with her trademark style, she giggled first and spoke later as Winfrey asked her all the standard questions about kissing in public, sex, arranged marriage and so on.

There was one unusually perceptive question that Winfrey asked and Aishwarya did not quite answer adequately. That was about the preference for fair skin in India.

Fair skin treatment is a huge business in India, Winfrey informed the audience and asked Aishwarya to explain. The actress generally agreed that fair skin was a preferred tone but then did not go much beyond saying that India had all types of looks. To expect her to hold forth on what nearly 200 years of subjugation by a white colonial power can do to the psychology of an impoverished nation was too much to expect.

Winfrey asked her if she recognised that she was gorgeous. Aishwarya's response was a lesson in insincerity and beauty-pageant like. "To me, beautiful is as beautiful does. I think that's what speaks volumes. It isn't about the apparent gig. It's about what you do," she said.

She knew quite clearly that if she were an average looking woman doing the job of an office secretary she would not be asked that question, and, if she were, her response would not have been so politically correct. A simple yes would have done much more for her effectiveness.

As the US television media discovers the power of Indian films, it inevitably goes for obvious names. What could be more obvious than Amitabh and Aishwarya?

While after 35 years Amitabh has paid his dues and deserves the occasional attention he gets from the US media, Aishwarya's rise is somewhat dubious. It is mostly about marketing.

Her first introduction to the mainstream American audience through "Bride and Prejudice", Gurinder Chadha's puerile, 'Punjabified' interpretation of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice", has done far less than expected.

In her earlier appearance on CBS News' "60 Minutes", Aishwarya struck many Americans as obviously very good-looking but devoid of depth.

But in so much as Amitabh and Aishwarya, separated by over three decades in age, are bringing an awareness to the West about India's entertainment industry, they are serving the same purpose.

Jane Kerrey, an office secretary working in Manhattan, New York, who saw the Oprah show summed it up well saying: "From (Mahatma) Gandhi's India it is now Rai's India for many in the West. Both Indias have a place."