Aiswarya

“Hi. I am Sanjana”. That was all it took to eclipse both Aamir Khan and Mahima Choudhary in the Pepsi commercial, making this aqua-eyed beauty the talk of the town. You just knew that you had not seen the last of Aishwarya Rai and she was not one to disappoint.Ash Ash BabyAishwarya Krishnaraj Rai was born on 1st November 1973 in Mangalore. Her father Krishnaraj Rai was a marine engineer and her mother Vrinda Rai is a writer. She has an older brother Aditya Rai who is in the merchant navy. He also happened to co-produce Dil Ka Rishta in 2003, which starred Ash. The family moved to Mumbai where she studied at the Arya Vidya Mandir and later moved to Ruparel College. She was aspiring to study architecture but that did not take off while her career in the glamour industry took off.Ash won the coveted Miss World crown in 2004. Soon after this she pledged to donate her eyes after her death. She went on to become the brand ambassador for brands like L’Oreal, Pepsi and Coco Cola. She struck a pose for many international magazines like TIME and was also voted one of the most attractive and influential women by several polls. She is the first Indian actor to be part of the jury at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. She has appeared in The Oprah Winfrey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and 60 Minutes. She was also the first Indian actress to be replicated in wax at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London.She was briefly involved with actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi before marrying actor Abhishek Bacchan, son of the iconic Amitabh Bacchan and Jaya Bacchan. They were married in 2007.The Rai MagicAishwarya began her career in the film industry with a Tamil film Iruvar in 1997 which was a hit as opposed to her Hindi film Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya with Bobby Deol. She won the Filmfare Best Actress award for her next Tamil film Jeans, which was also an entry to the Oscars. In 1999, she gained recognition in Bollywood with hits like Taal and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, in which she played opposite Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan, her role as Nandini fetching her the Filmfare Best Actress award.In 2000, her Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, saw a good turnout. She took on the role of Shirley, Shah Rukh Khan’s sister in Josh and then played his love interest in Mohabbatein which won her a nomination for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress award. In Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, she played Preeti Virat, a rape victim and was considered for the Filmfare Best Actress award. The year 2001 was a quiet year for Ash.Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas (2002), in which she played Paro with Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, was an instant blockbuster. It also received a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. She won the Filmfare Best Actress award. In 2003, she acted the part of Binodini in a Bengali film Choker Bali which was based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The film was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.The year 2004 saw Ash in her first English film, Gurinder Chaddha’s Bride & Prejudice, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Her performance as Neerja in Rituparno Ghosh’s Raincoat was praised. This was followed by her second English film in 2005, The Mistress of Spices with Dylan McDermott of The Practice fame. Her dance sequence Kajra Re from Bunty Aur Babli became one of the most popular tunes of the year.She had two films out in 2006. Umrao Jaan with Abhishek Bacchan failed to do well while Dhoom 2 where she played Sunehri and shared a ‘controversial’ liplock with Hrithik Roshan was a big hit. In 2007, she played Sujata opposite Abhishek Bacchan in Guru, based on the industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani which was very successful. Provoked which was based on a real episode of domestic violence, won critical acclaim. The other English film The Last Legion did not do so well.Jodhaa Akbar, released in 2008, in which she acted the part of Jodhaa Bai with Hrithik Roshan was average while the sequel to Sarkar, Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj in which she plays a CEO alongside Amitabh Bacchan and Abhishek Bacchan, is said to be one of her best performances till date.Going StrongAishwarya has lined up quite a few films for 2009. Among them is the English film, The Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin, the Hindi film Ravana and the Tamil film Endhiran.