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Taking her Bollywood charm abroad, Aishwarya Rai was spotted arriving at the 2009 International Indian Film Academy Awards in Macau, China yesterday (June 11).

The “Bride and Prejudice” hottie looked lovely as she posed for the paparazzi at the Venetian Macao Hotel & Resort sporting a sleeveless black and grey dress with black peep-toe heels.

One of the hottest ladies in the Indian film industry, Aishwarya has quite the full plate of upcoming projects to speak of.

Later this year, she’ll be starring in “Crooked,” “Endhiran,” “Raavana,” and “Action Replay,” followed by “Singularity,” and “Bhopal” in 2010.

U.S. actor Steve Martin dismissed negative reviews of the latest installment of the Pink Panther movie franchise, saying comedies always had to overcome critical snobbery and that the genre was "not a critics' medium."

"I have received bad reviews my whole life," Martin said on Friday as he presented "Pink Panther 2" at the Berlin film festival, his second turn as bungling French detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a role made famous by Peter Sellers.

"I received bad reviews when I started with my stand-up act. 'The Jerk', one of my most enduring comedy films, was universally panned in America. And comedies always have to overcome critical snobbery," said Martin, 63.

"It's just the way it is. And so you go, oh, well, okay, why are these movies that you've criticized so archly still around 10 years later, 15 years later, 20 years later. It's because comedy is not a critics' medium. It just isn't."

The film, which took $12 million at its opening weekend in the United States -- down 40 percent on Martin's first outing as Clouseau in 2006 -- has garnered a host of hostile reviews.

The Washington Post said the "Pink Panther 2" was "clawless" and Martin "clueless" as Clouseau. In Britain, The Times described to the movie as "a tedious string of pratfalls."

Jokes in the fast-paced comedy got chuckles in the Berlin screening, but the laughter was more palpable as Martin made fun of himself and the cast in the following news conference.

"Not only was Johnny Hallyday a great sinister character, he also played one of the best dead bodies I've ever seen," Martin said of the French singer who co-starred in the movie.

POPE'S BLESSING?

Later Martin was asked how he felt the Pope would respond to a scene in which Clouseau impersonates the Pontiff.

"Actually, he requested me," Martin quipped to more laughs.

When a reporter asked Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the Bollywood actress who stars in the film, if she saw herself as a role model for girls in India, she hesitated. Martin did not.

"I know I do," Martin answered, shortly before launching into a 1-1/2 minute banjo performance to loud applause.

The film, directed by Dutch-born Norwegian Harald Zwart, also features John Cleese as Martin's boss Chief Inspector Dreyfus, Frenchman Jean Reno as Clouseau's sidekick Ponton as well as Alfred Molina and Andy Garcia as rival sleuths.

Looking relaxed and dressed smartly in a jacket and tie, Martin was asked whether he had asked the Pope's permission to shoot a lengthy scene set in the Vatican.

"We didn't ask permission because we didn't shoot in the Vatican. But I think the Catholic Church has been kidded and joked about for years. They're just used to it," Martin said.

"I believe the Catholic Church is very smart not to go crazy about it. When a religion is kidded and they get very serious, I think it shows they're insecure," he added. "I think the Catholic Church will probably last longer than this film."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

She’s no stranger to high-profile industry hoopla, and earlier today (February 10) Aishwarya Rai was spotted having a blast at a photo call for “The Pink Panther 2.”

The Bollywood babe looked right at home as she posed for the paparazzi in a full-length black velour coat overtop a cream colored blouse and grey trousers.

And Miss Rai was in good company- she was joined by her “Pink Panther 2” co-stars Steve Martin and Jean Reno.

Now in theaters, “The Pink Panther 2” follows “Inspector Jacques Clouseau as he teams up with a squad of International detectives who are just as bumbling as he is. Their mission: Stop a globe-trotting thief who specializes in stealing historical artifacts.”

There's no denying Steve Martin's commitment to the role of Jacques Clouseau, the fumbling and deluded Gallic detective Peter Sellers brought to life with ineffable comic timing. But watching his second go at the part, the burning question remains: Pourquoi? Not all of Blake Edwards' Panther films were gems, to be sure, but why redo Clouseau as a doltish caricature for the new millennium?

The answer is "family-friendly franchise." Martin's Clouseau is a broader, sweeter, less complicated -- and less funny -- clown than the 1960s-'70s vintage. "The Pink Panther 2" is, mercifully, less labored than the 2006 installment. But that earlier film grossed $82 million domestically, and MGM/Sony's part deux no doubt will perform well at the box office when it opens on Friday, despite critical pans.

This comedy whodunit generates more laughs than its predecessor, which is to say, two or three. The script, credited to Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber and Martin, uses an appropriately paper-thin plot as an excuse to revel in goofiness, aiming most of the humor at tweens. On hand to portray the cartoonish characters is a willing, if wasted, cast of familiar faces, among them Jean Reno, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Jeremy Irons, Geoffrey Palmer and Johnny Hallyday.

The central action involves the international "dream team" of crime experts assembled to catch the Tornado, who's brazenly swiping priceless artifacts like the Magna Carta, the Shroud of Turin and eventually the Pink Panther diamond. Inspector Clouseau's having been chosen for the team is the story's central absurdity. But the intended contrast between his ridiculousness and his colleagues' professionalism has no bite; for too much of the time, it's a distinction between tedious and dull. The script and direction leave characters standing around while Martin does his shtick. It's only in a sequence involving security video screens in an art connoisseur's mansion that a group chemistry takes hold.

Among Clouseau's poorly written dream-team colleagues, Yuki Matsuzaki ("Letters From Iwo Jima") is a standard computer whiz, and Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai Bachchan falls short of the mystery she's meant convey. Alfred Molina's British detective gets one good bit with a round of forensic one-upmanship with Clouseau. As the debonair Italian detective who takes an interest in Clouseau's assistant, Nicole (Emily Mortimer), Andy Garcia has more to do and does it with a sly comic touch. The lovely Mortimer, her role expanded from the earlier film, makes the childlike attraction between Clouseau and Nicole matter as much as anything here possibly could.

Mainly "Panther 2" is an exercise in empty farce. Relying too often on clunky reaction shots, director Harald Zwart ("Agent Cody Banks") rarely allows giddiness to erupt, let alone build. A wine-bottle gag is orchestrated to good effect, but a would-be set piece at the Vatican is a dud. A dumb martial arts face-off between Clouseau and two boys serves mainly to showcase the art nouveau interiors of Clouseau's flat, the strongest European element in this Paris- and Boston-shot feature.

The production is alternately polished and sloppy; in a glaring continuity gaffe, Mortimer's eyeglasses change shape in the middle of a party scene. But there's far worse that this movie tries to get away with in the name of comedy.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter