MAIN Pop Culture Hollywood Stars Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai to Star
In More Hollywood Films

Aishwarya Rai, the reigning queen of Bollywood, is about to take Hollywood by storm with several more U.S. film projects underway.

Rai will play opposite Meryl Streep in "Chaos", directed by Coline Serreau. The film is an English language remake of the director's critically-acclaimed French drama. Rai will play the part of the young woman who is helped out of recovery by Streep's character, after being badly beaten by street thugs.

It will be the second English-language film for Bollywood superstar Rai, who has already appeared in Bride & Prejudice with co-star Martin Henderson ("The Ring"), for director Gurinder Chadha ("Bend It Like Beckham"). Rai is also signed to star in the IMAX presentation Taj Mahal for release in 2005. Rai will portray the role of Mumtaz, for whom the Taj Mahal was constructed.

It has also been announced that the actress will also executive produce and star in a major motion picture tentatively titled Windfall, the film will be produced by Zachary Coffin and is scheduled to begin filming in Fall 2005.

The fiction feature film, a mystery inspired by true events, is set mostly in present day America, with flashbacks to Bhopal. The movie tells the story of a young woman’s search for her father, a plant manager on duty the night of the historic disaster. Ms. Rai plays the lead role, Jasmine Singh, an Indian-American debutante born in Bhopal but raised in Beverly Hills.

“The story of the disaster in Bhopal is all too tragic,” said Ms. Rai. “But this film will be inspiring. The story of a young woman’s search for her father, the love story with her American fiancé and the issues she goes through as a survivor of the disaster – I simply had to be involved. And I hope the films’ success will draw attention to the need of victims in Bhopal, and to those everywhere who’ve suffered from injustice.”

“This is a heroic role, like Erin Brockovich, but on an epic scale – The Insider meets Titanic,” said producer Zachary Coffin. “Aishwarya was our first, last and only choice to play the lead, and I truly believe this will be the most inspiring performance of her career yet.”

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