Bollywood's Rai Filming Draws Attention

NEW YORK (AP) _ Bollywood film star Aishwarya Rai says she was taken aback by all the attention she received during the filming of ``Bride & Prejudice,'' her first English-language movie, which

Monday, February 7th 2005, 10:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Bollywood film star Aishwarya Rai says she was taken aback by all the attention she received during the filming of ``Bride & Prejudice,'' her first English-language movie, which premiers Friday.

The 1994 Miss World told the Daily News for a story in Sunday's editions that during scenes filmed in Amritsar, a dusty provincial city in northern India, unexpected crowds of locals arrived at the set.

``People just came in throngs and stood around,'' Rai said in a telephone interview from Bombay. ``It was very overwhelming for my co-stars.''

Director Gurinder Chadha added that more security was necessary.

``We thought we'd need a few extra police because of the crowds that wanted to see her,'' said Chadha, who also directed the hit ``Bend It Like Beckham.'' ``We weren't expecting that we'd need 400!''

``Bride & Prejudice'' is a take on Jane Austen's novel ``Pride and Prejudice'' and features singing and Bhangra dancing.

Rai, India's most famous film star, has made more than 30 movies and is a spokesmodel for Coca-Cola, L'Oreal and DeBeers Diamonds.