Aishwarya may play Buddha’s wife

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November 23, 2004

Aishwarya Rai may play Buddha’s wife in a biopic coinciding with the 2,550th birthday of the Gautama. The film’s backers have signed up Shekhar Kapoor and should find it easy to recruit Hollywood stars who dabble in Buddhism.

The chance to play opposite Aish would turn me into a monk any day, but there’s a catch:

Buddha’s wife Yashodhara became a Buddhist monk soon after Buddha’s enlightenment… Gautam Buddha… was married to Yashodhara at the age of 16 and he left the palace soon after the birth of his son Rahul… Yashodhara became a nun when Buddha turned 36.

Buddha turning Aishwarya celibate? Methinks I’ve figured out who’s really holding the cards.

Film Religion

POSTED BY manish @ 3:49 PM

11 comments

1 · Abhi on November 23, 2004 4:16 PM · Direct link

This is sheer lunacy! How could anyone beleive a biography of the Buddha's life if they portray him walking away from her to go live in the woods?

2 · vinod on November 23, 2004 6:25 PM · Direct link

Perhaps Chris Rock had some insight into this when he said "No matter how hot she is, somewhere, there's a guy who's tired of putting up with her sh*t" ;-)

Perhaps if you get tired of Aishwarya, all that's left to upgrade to is Nirvana?

3 · prakruti on November 23, 2004 6:58 PM · Direct link

hmmm..this film has bratt pitt and richard gere opposite aiswarya rai.
and buddha did turn yashodhara into a monk, while they say the sight of a dying old man turned buddha into a monk..

From yashodharas point of view, hindi poet maithili sharan gupta wrote a poetry collection on yashodhara, buddhas wife ,on her anguish as a wife and a mother missing buddha, very sensitive collection of poems showing a womens agony in those times living without a husband.

If u can read hindi, here is a link to a piece from that poetry collection yashodhara.
http://www.manaskriti.com/kaavyaalaya/sakhi_ve_mujshe_kahkar_jaate.stm

4 · Punjabi Boy on November 24, 2004 9:47 AM · Direct link

How on Earth can Brad Pitt be in the movie about Buddha? How many white men lived in north India 2500 years ago?

Amazing. They better cast an Indian actor as Buddha or I will be protesting outside the cinemas. No doubt the Holywaood producers will be demanding Leonardo Di Caprio or Orlando Bloom with a suntan for goodness sake!

5 · Manish Vij on November 24, 2004 10:55 AM · Direct link

How on Earth can Brad Pitt be in the movie about Buddha?

The same way Eddie Murphy was: badly.

6 · Abhi on November 24, 2004 11:46 AM · Direct link

I think you both forget that Siddhartha has already been played by Keanu Reeves in "The Little Buddha." You can't get much worse than that. :)

7 · Manish Vij on November 24, 2004 12:27 PM · Direct link

Siddhartha has already been played by Keanu Reeves...

Siddhartha and Yashodhara's Excellent Adventure?

8 · Punjabi Boy on November 25, 2004 2:45 AM · Direct link

Keanu Reeves as Siddhartha???

WTF??

When???

That clueless stoner played the greatest Indian who ever lived??

Man...that is just unbelievable. What a slap to our faces.

9 · Al Mujahid on November 25, 2004 8:53 AM · Direct link

I wont be that surprised to see a white person playing Buddha.
Jesus is still being played by Nordic men. Though to be fair to Mel Gibson atleast in his movie, Jesus was played by a Southern European. Now eventually they will move towards the East Mediterranean to pick someome to play Jesus.

10 · kurian on November 25, 2004 1:23 PM · Direct link

Oh come on:(a slightly-tanned) Keanu Reeves could pass off quite easily as a Nepali (as Siddhartha was). I suspect they paid more heed to the authenticity of that casting decision than you think they did.

11 · gc on November 26, 2004 12:30 AM · Direct link

That clueless stoner played the greatest Indian who ever lived??

Hmmm...while I agree with your point re: the bad casting decisions, dunno if he's the "greatest ever" - the Buddha didn't have too much influence within India. Heck, given China's conduct w.r.t. Tibet, Taiwan, NoKo, Vietnam, etc. I doubt that ahimsa has much pull there either :)

After much reflection, for greatest Indians I'd have to nominate the guys who started the Sepoy Mutiny. Until Abdul Kalam those were the first guys who actually tried to give India some gonads.

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