By Masooma M Lotia

Aishwarya Rai is one of Bollywood’s pre-eminent leading ladies. This Indian darling burst upon the world stage when her striking beauty, poise and commanding intelligence won her the Miss World crown in 1994. This former architecture major soon became one of India’s most famous models, landing a prestigious Pepsi campaign and appearing in Vogue magazine.

India’s top Bollywood directors were soon lining up to work with Ash. Her film debut in Mani Rathnam’s IRUVAR (1997) received critical acclaim and her performance in Rahul Rawail’s …AUR PAAR HO GAYA (1997) garnered her the Best Female Debutante Award. In 2000, she was awarded Best Actress by FilmFare and Zee Cine for her work in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, and in that same year, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her special appearance in Aditya Chopra’s MOHABBATEIN. In 2001, Ash was nominated for FilmFare’s Best Actress Award for Satish Kaushik’s HAMARA DIL AAPKE PAAS HAI.

Ash’s star continued to rise in 2002 working again with Sajay Leela Bhansali in DEVDAS. It was the most ambitious and most successful film in Bollywood history. It became the first Bollywood picture to ever receive a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival and broke box-office records in India and the United States. Daily Variety’s Derek Elley describes DEVDAS as “…some of the most sumptuous production values in Bollywood history…” Elley describes Ash as “almost Audrey Hepburn-like,” Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann says “I loved her in DEVDAS” and Julia Roberts calls her “the world’s most beautiful woman.”

2003 brought even more exciting opportunities. Ash became the first Indian actor to be a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Ash is also the latest member of the elite L’Oreal Dream Team, joining beauties Catherine Deneuve & Andie MacDowell as their international ambassador. She graced the covers of India Today and the prestigious Time Magazine. Time has also listed her on their list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World Today’. She has graced numerous covers in numerous countries worldwide including the USA, UK, China, Russia, Israel, United Emirates, Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Ash was also listed on Rolling Stone Magazine’s annual ‘Hot List’, Hello Magazine’s ‘Most Attractive Women in the World’, Stuff Magazine, FHM magazine, V-Life from Variety Magazine, GQ Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Harper’s & Queen and countless others.

2004 saw Aishwarya take on the leading role in her first English language film in BRIDE & PREJUDICE for Gurinder Chadha. She also became the first Indian female to be immortalized in wax at the world famous Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London. 

With over 17,000 websites dedicated to her, Ash finally launched her official website: www.AishwaryaWorld.com

In the year 2006, Rai starred in J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan, a second film adaptation of the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. She portrayed courtesan and poetess by the same name from 19th century Lucknow. The film was a critical and commercial failure, though Rai’s work was generally well received. Critic Taran Adarsh wrote, “Aishwarya Rai looks ethereal. She has looked heavenly and performed so convincingly. She emotes through her expressive eyes and the consistency in her performance is evident from start to end”.

Later that year she appeared as a master thief, Sunheri, in Yash Raj Films’s Dhoom 2 directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, with an ensemble cast of Hrithik Roshan, her husband Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra. The film turned out to be a blockbuster and became the highest grossing film of the year in India, earning revenues of over Rs 770 million domestically. The film also sparked a controversy for a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan. Ash’s performance earned her a sixth nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award.

2007 saw a change in marital status of Aishwarya when she got married into none other than the most revrend family in Bollywood, the Bachans. She and Abhishek Bachan got married on 20 April, 2007. The wedding took place in a private ceremony at the Bachchan residence Prateeksha in Juhu, Mumbai.

In the same year she appeared in Mani Ratnam’s Guru as Sujata. Speculated to be based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, it was a rag to riches story about an ambitious small town man who ends up as the owner of the biggest corporation in India. The film was premièred at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, making it the first Indian film to have a mainstream international premiere in Canada. The film was critically acclaimed and performed well at the box office. Critical reception for Rai was mixed. While Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India wrote that she is “just okay and fails to register the growth in her character”, Rediff.com’s Raja Sen described it as “arguably her finest performance, visible especially when she takes over the film’s climax. Rai got her seventh Filmfare nomination for Best Actress for the role.

In the same year she starred in Jag Mundhra’s British film Provoked as Kiranjit Ahluwalia (an NRI woman who killed her abusive husband after facing severe domestic violence) alongside Naveen Andrews. The film was panned by critics and was also a commercial failure, though Rai received positive reviews from critics. In the same year she appeared as a female Indian warrior from Kerala named Mira in Doug Lefler’s epic film The Last Legion alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth and Thomas Sangster. The film was a critical failure

In 2008, she starred alongside Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker’s historical drama Jodhaa Akbar, a partly fictionalised account of the life of Muslim Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, played by Roshan and his Hindu wife Jodha Bai, played by Rai. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning revenues of over Rs 590 million domestically. Rai’s performance in the film was praised by critics, with Rajeev Masand writing, “Aishwarya Rai is wonderfully restrained and uses her eyes expertly to communicate so much, making this one of her finest outings on screen”. She earned her eighth nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare for her performance. Later that year she co-starred with husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar Raj, a sequel to his previous film Sarkar. She played the CEO of a major power company proposing to establish a new power plant in rural Maharashtra.

 In 2009 she appeared in Harald Zwart’s spy comedy film The Pink Panther 2 playing the role of criminology expert, Sonia Solandres. Like its predecessor, the sequel received negative reviews from critics and did a moderate business of $75,871,032 worldwide.

She is slated to appear with Rajinikanth in the Tamil film Endhiran, directed by S. Shankar. She will also appear in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish opposite Hrithik Roshan, Vipul Shah’s Action Replay opposite Akshay Kumar, Abhinay Deo’s next film produced by Farhan Akhtar and Vishal Bharadwaj’s next directorial venture.

In 2009 Rai was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions to Indian cinema. In the same year she refused to accept the second-highest Order Of France, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as her father was suffering from serious illness, and she wanted her whole family to attend the award function. She is only the fourth Indian actor after Amitabh Bachchan, Nandita Das and Shahrukh Khan to be chosen for an Order Of France. In June 2009, she was declared the Female Star of The Decade at the tenth International Indian Film Academy Awards held in Macau.

Aishwarya’s latest venture is with Vikram Kennedy in Mani Ratnam’s next film, Raavana which is also to be simultaneously made in Hindi, titled Raavan, with Abhishek Bachchan in the lead.