by Subhash K Jha

As she slips into the role of Umrao Jaan, everyone is talking about her dedication and drive. Says her director J P Dutta, "With her head tilted slightly to one side, Aishwarya Rai seems to be giving away nothing on her face. She absorbs the details, then goes to the camera for an emotion-spill."

We are on location in Rajasthan, at the shooting of the film. Ash, as Umrao, strikes me as being as poised and in control as Rekha was in Muzaffar Ali's original film. And yes, Ash is a far better dancer.

In a gorgeous, other-worldly creation designed by Anna Singh, Aishwarya looks...ethereal, as if she belongs to another era," raves Divya Dutta, who plays her sister.

"Isn't she lovely? People generally believe extraordinarily beautiful people are either dumb or horrible. Ash completely disproves that."

For the moment, those gorgeous brows are creased in worry. "Amitji really gave us a scare. May God give a him a long, long life," says Rai. "There is no actor in this country for whom audiences care as much."

Rajasthan seems to suit Ash. "It had better! I'm going to be spending a lot of time here...First, Umrao Jaan till January. I then come back for Ashutosh Gowraiker's Jodha-Akbar, which will be another challenge altogether," she says.

First The Last Legion, then Umrao Jaan, then Jodha-Akbar... That's quite a bit of costume drama for Ash. "Why do you look at them as 'costume' dramas?" she asks. "They're characters, each different from the other. Which is why I can't understand this so-called controversy about me being in Prithviraj-Sanjukta. Why should it be a problem if I do one more film from another era?"

Ash refuses to believe Raj Kumar Santoshi made a comment about her being too old to do the swayamvar sequence in Prithviraj-Sanjukta.

"Rajji is a very dear friend. He has offered me practically every film he has made in the last two years... including Dil Hai Tumhara, which Kundan Shah later made with Preity Zinta. I don't think he could have made that comment. He says his remarks -- apparently made at an event to announce his film Family to the press -- were misinterpreted. I'd like to believe that's true."

So, will she do Prithviraj-Sanjukta for Santoshi or for the equally-meticulous Dr Chandraprakash Diwedi?

"I made them both aware of the fact that they were working on the same subject. Now it's up to them to sort out the matter. I have the highest regard for both filmmakers. In fact, Dr Diwedi offered me Pinjar, which I couldn't do. Here's a filmmaker who's also an academician. It would be a pleasure to work with him."

"But I'm not looking at any new projects right now. My hands are full with Umrao Jaan, Dhoom 2 and then Jodha-Akbar, which will take me right through next year. In fact, I had to opt out of Raj Santoshi's Saamna for this reason -- my other commitments came in the way. Rajji and I discussed it. But I'm definitely doing a film with him again."

She shot for a bit of Dhoom 2 in Mumbai before getting to Rajasthan. "It was a rocking experience," she says. And...er, that bikini? "Not again!" she howls. "Hasn't Sanjay Gadhvi said there's no bikini for me? It would be a nice change for me to do a frothy, fun film like Dhoom 2 after Umrao Jaan."

She raves about J P Dutta. "He's so good with his actors. It's a myth that he's a guy's director. He understands his female characters so well. And he has got some lovely songs from Anu Malik. I'm really enjoying this experience."

In the meanwhile, the international press continues to fete her. "People here think I orchestrate all the write-ups abroad," she says. "I'd be doing nothing else if I were getting myself into the international press."