Fun & Architecture: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as an Architect

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By Sanskriti Vashisth

Perceived as one of the most elegant and charming personalities of Hindi cinema, who won the Miss World title in 1994 and became a role model to whom people would listen and adore, Aishwarya Rai was an architecture student before she entered the glamorous world. Rai has earned various honours, including two Filmfare Awards, as well as the Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 2009 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Government of France in 2012. She has been deemed “the most beautiful woman in the world” by the media.

She radiates a persona that is sophisticated and royal, furthermore earning to be the most respected actress. This praiseworthy model has been a motivation and over the years turned out to be rational. Accounting for an astounding personality and remarkable belief, she certainly can incline to the royal side of architecture. Let’s see what could have been if she would have continued with architecture as a career.

Approach

Aishwarya is considered a real-life queen and would have been a perfect designer whose concepts revolved around the traditional architecture of India. As she has represented India in an international pageant, one can tell that a part of this culture has been with her always. The charm with which she steps forward to make decisions says a lot about the way she thinks and adapts to the world around her, making a lasting effect with which she has interacted. It represents the transparent approach she could have chosen to go forward with; maintaining a regal outlook in defining spaces and considering the significance of the user-centric proposal. 

Back to roots

Belonging to Mangalore, Karnataka, she has been staying in Mumbai since birth. It is affirmative to say that her design process will start to get inspired by the home town and would certainly take inspiration from old palaces and heritage sites back there. Mysuru  Palace in Karnataka is an exquisite illustration of the kind of facet the actress would be interested in pursuing as a base model of inspiration for upcoming design projects. Built in Indo-Saracenic style, it represents the persona of the mind behind the built to have astonishing attention to detail. This palatial building comprises two durbar halls, several colossal courtyards, buildings and strikingly beautiful gardens that speak volumes of the splendour of the Wadiyars.

Modern Royalty

Rambagh Palace, which was established in 1835, has smoothly transitioned through successive royal transitions, from the home of the queen’s favourite handmaiden to a royal guesthouse and hunting lodge, and later as the residence of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II and his queen, Maharani Gayatri Devi. The palace has been lavishly embellished with hand-carved marble ‘jalis’ or latticework, sandstone balustrades, cupolas and ‘chattris’ or cenotaphs, and an ornate Mughal Garden.

The finest example of Rajputana architecture is certainly a presentation of the divine culture and heritage of the place. This combination of past and future could have been her forte. This goes well with the actress’s love for Indian tradition and represents her behaviour of still being connected to her roots.

Blending with the realm

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan seems to feel connected with ancient architecture and understands the importance of preserving the legacy we inherited from our ancestors. Being a part of films such as Jodha Akbar, one can appreciate her ability to emerge as part of the set and therefore the architecture as if it’s her very own. In the film, the Amer Fort in Rajasthan was transformed into Jodha Bai’s maternal house. 

The hilltop fort is a beautiful example of Rajput style and a visual delight. The complete set was reconstructed in Karjat, Maharashtra, taking influence from the interiors of the Agra Fort and the Amer Fort in Jaipur. Interiors from the previously described forts were created as exact replicas. The garden in which various sequences of the film take place is based on Mughal gardens such as the char-bagh.

Former Miss World has been seen presenting herself with grace and elegance. Aishwarya knows how to deliver a firm and bold impression. This characteristic unquestionably contributes to her optimism and thought process. In her recent movie, Ponniyin Selvan-I, the audience can see how she carries herself and undoubtedly is capable of conveying the same. The art director of the film recreated the lost glory of the Chola empire by taking inspiration from the South Indian temples such as Koranganatha Temple, Srinivasanallur, and Trichy. 

The temple has an Ardha mandapa which is attached to the sanctum and acts as a porch that is slightly below the ground level in a pit kind of structure. The structure was predominantly built of stone. Finally, an amalgamation of thought and further research, the set was made and the characters made it their own.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has seen tremendous growth in her career and life. She could have been able to deliver the same if she were an architect. Being able to pursue her dreams and work on them has always been one of the defining factors of the actress. 

Design Inspiration: 5 Quotes by Norman Foster

As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown.

I describe the design process as like the tip of the iceberg. What you don’t see is the long haul: all the endless auditing and things like that.

The pencil and computer are, if left to their own devices, equally dumb and only as good as the person driving them.

Everything inspires me; sometimes I think I see things others don’t.

Everything we design is a response to the specific climate and culture of a particular place.

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