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First Lady of Bollywood

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Statuesque, charismatic and glamorous, she has established herself as the leading contemporary actress of Indian cinema.

The most beautiful woman in the world has been on countless magazine covers, including TIME magazine, which also named her one of the world’s most influential people.

This Padma Shri recipient is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

 

Childhood

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was born on November 1, 1973 in Mangalore. The family moved to Mumbai where she was educated. She was a bright student and wanted to pursue a career in medicine or architecture.

However, Life had other plans for the green-eyed scholar. When one of her professors who also freelanced as a photographer asked her to pose for him, the resulting pictures provoked a flood of interest from the modelling industry.  

It didn’t take long for Aishwarya to purse modelling full-time.

 

The Model
In 1991, Aishwarya won a supermodel contest (organised by Ford) and was eventually featured in the American edition of Vogue.

Next year, in the Miss India pageant, she won second place and was crowned Miss India World. At the Miss Universe pageant, representing India, Aishwarya’s duties as the first runner-up included representing India in the rival Miss World Pageant, held that year in South Africa.

She went on to win the crown where she also won the “Miss Photogenic” award and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty − Asia and Oceania.

 

The Actress
Aishwarya made her acting debut in 1997’s Tamil film ‘Iruvar’. The film was a critical success and among other awards, won the Best Film award at the Belgrade International Film Festival.

She got her breakthrough in 1998’s ‘Jeans’ which was the official Indian Entry to the Oscars for that year.

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ (1999) was one of the major milestones in her career. Aishwarya’s role won her critical acclaim and her first Filmfare award for Best Actress. Her other movie, Taal (1999) received moderate success in India, however was internationally very successful.

She then starred in commercial hits ‘Josh’ and ‘Mohabbatein’ in 2000. Her role in Devdas (2002), earned her praise from across the globe. The film became the highest grosser of the year at home and abroad and won her, her second Filmfare award for Best Actress.

Her career suffered a setback between 2003 and 2006, with the failure of films such as ‘Kuch Na Kaho’, ‘Shabd’ and ‘Dil Ka Rishta’, however she came with strong with ‘Dhoom 2’ in 2006 and ‘Guru’ in 2007.

Aishwarya has done successful international projects like ‘Bride & Prejudice’ (2004) and ‘Provoked ‘ (2007). While ‘Mistress Of Spices’ (2005) and ‘The Last Legion’ (2007) flopped, ‘The Pink Panther 2’ (2009) did moderate business.

She has also appeared on the ‘ Late Show with David Letterman’, ‘Oprah’ and ‘The Tyra Banks Show’ apart from many other shows.

 

The Humanitarian
Aishwarya is a UN Microcredit Spokesperson. She supports PETA India and has pledged to donate her eyes to the Eye Bank Association of India.

In 2005 she became a brand ambassador for Pulse Polio, a campaign established by the Government of India in 1994 to eradicate polio in India.
 

Love Life
In 1999, Aishwarya started seeing actor Salman Khan, who she met on the sets of ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’. She called it quits in 2001 and said in an interview the actor was harassing her. Alleging “indignity” and “infidelity”, Ash said in a statement: “For the sake of my well-being, my sanity, my dignity and self-respect of my family, I will not work with Salman Khan.”

Then, she was in a three-year relationship with Vivek Oberoi. The couple also broke up and there were many speculated reasons for the split, ranging from Ash’s family not liking Vivek’s public acknowledgment of love on TV, to buzz that it was because Vivek was not doing well.

Ash then started seeing Abhishek Bachchan while they were shooting for ‘Dhoom 2’ in 2005 and, married him in 2007. They have a daughter, Aaradhya.

Trivia

She is the first Indian actress to be on the jury of the Cannes International Film Festival. Over 17,000 websites are dedicated to her.

She had a tulip named after her in Netherlands, while she was also the first Bollywood actress to have a wax replica in Madame Tussauds.

In 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the UK.

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