BANONGI MEIN MISS INDIA

Aishwarya needs no introduction, in either east or west.  She was the Miss World 1994.  This light eyed beauty found herself a model from a young age onwards.  She was modelling for Camlin Pencils when she was in 9th Grade.  She grabbed eyeballs as the Pepsi hottie with Aamir Khan soon after.  Her ads for the Garden Sarees were also very popular.  Miss India was the next step for her.  She was the first runner up after Sushmita Sen. Sush went on to win the Miss Universe title, while she bagged Miss World.  They put India on the beauty map of the world.

Aishwarya debuted with a critically acclaimed Iruvar directed by Mani Ratnam in 1997.  She played out the story of Jayalalita on screen.  With looks like hers, bollywood  movie offers were pouring in.  However her early hindi movies flopped, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, Jeans and Aa Ab Laut Chalen. 

A STAR IS BORN

Then Sanjay Leela Bhansali stepped in with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, starring Ash with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan. People believe that Aishwarya looked her beautiful best in the movie, and performed her best too.  She wore beautiful kundan jewellery and traditional indian clothes.  The movie was a superduper hit and many women were inspired to lose weight and gain a waist that resembled Aishwarya's.

Subahsh Ghai's Taal was a hit and showcased Aishwarya's dancing abilities.  In Josh Aish was paired with current heartthrob Chandrachur Singh, and played Shah Rukh Khan's sister. It was shot entirely in Goa and the beautiful location only hightlighted Aishwarya's beauty.  The movie was a hit and a well made, significant movie.

BOLLYWOOD TALENT

Humara Dil Apke Pass Hai starred Aishwarya with Anil Kapoor.  She played the role of a rape victim who falls in love with her saviour.  The movie brought her acclaim for her acting.  She was now known as a talented bollywood actress.  It was an above average hit.

Her first bollywood movie with Abhishek went unnoticed.  Dhai Akshar Prem Ke did nothing for this good looking jodi. In Mohabattien she played Amitabh's deceased daughter and Shah Rukh's girl.  She appears in the movie in flashbacks or as a ghost.  The movie was a hit.

Next up was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's hit, Devdas.  The movie went all out in showcasing Aishwarya as the beautiful Paro that Devdas dies for. There were a string of flops and then Chokher Bali by Ritoparno Ghosh happened.  It was an arthouse movie that brought her critical acclaim. Her second outing with Abhishek, Kuch Naa Kaho flopped too.

DREAM HOLLYWOOD

Around this time, Aishwarya became L'Oreal's brand ambassador and started nurturing hollywood dreams too.  She was in Cannes every year, and was getting a lot of attention in the west. 

However, she continued with her bollywood spell and was a part of the hit Khakhee.  Ritoparno's next bollyood movie Raincoat was based on O Henry's short story, The Gift of Magi.  It was a sweet love story that starred her with Ajay Devgan.  Again, the movie was a critical success.

Bride and Prejudice was Gurinder Chadda's take on the famous Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice.  The flavour was international, Aish was the leading lady and her co-star was Martin Henderson.  The press was unkind to the movie both in India and Abroad.  However, the colourful tale of our girl from Amritsar who traipses half way around the globe to shed her prejudice and fall in love with a rich heir was liked by many.

Shabd was an interesting movie but went a little haywire in the telling.  Interestingly Aishwarya co-starred with the bollywood hunk Sanjay Dutt and the cute Zayed Khan.  She had some steamy scenes with Sanjay Dutt and looked gorgeous.

EAST AND WEST

Bunty aur Babli had Aishwarya in just one song alongside Abhishek and Amitabh.  But that one song caught the imagination of the nation.  Kajra Re was the most played song on TV and radio, it topped all the hit lists for that year.

Gurinder Chadda's husband Paul came up with his cinematic interpretation of Chitra Devkaruni's novel Mistress of Spices. Aishwarya was cast with the hollywood hottie Dylan Mcdermott, but the movie failed.

Provoked, based on Kiranjit Ahluwalia's true story was better received. It brought huge lot of critical acclaim and worldwide exposure to Aishwarya.

Back home, Umrao Jaan, JP Dutta carefully crafted remake of the earlier Muzaffar Ali classic sank like a ton of bricks.  She was paired again with Abhishek here.  However, the movie did bring them both together as a couple.

PHIR DHOOM

For her next movie Aishwarya had to work hard.  She shed the extra kilos that were so visible in Kajra Re and got back her lean frame.  She had to shoot a lot of gruelling action scenes. On top of that, there was a kissing scene too.  But the movie was big.  Yash Raj's Dhoom 2 had her paired with the bollywood hot property, Hritik Roshan.  The light eyed couple looked great together. The movie was one of the top grossers of the year. 

Her next Guru, a Mani Ratnam movie, brought success atlast to the Abhishek Ash jodi.  The movie was a success and the pair celebrated it by marrying.

The Last Legion alongwith dreamboat Colin Firth did not do well.

Aishwarya has some good projects lined up. She is in Pink Panther 2.  She pairs up with the goodlooking Hritik once more in the period flick by Ashutosh Gowrikar, Jodha Akbar. Sarkar Raj is the follow up to Sarkar and this time she is in the movie with Abhishek.

HOLLYWOOD UPDATE

Aishwarya has not met with much success in hollywood yet.  But she has been the most photographed woman from South Asia so far.  She has featured on the covers of Time and People.  She has consistently topped lists like Most Beautiful women, and Sexiest Actresses.  She has appeared in worldwide advertisments of L'Oreal and is their brand ambassador. 

Her crowning glory was appearing on Oprah Winfrey show.  She had appeared on the 60 minutes show previous to that. She helped Oprah put on a saree on the show.

GOSSSSSIP

She had an ongoing rivalary with Sushmita Sen.  Their respective careers and love lives were being compared endlessly in the early days.  Now that the actresses have found niche of their own, the gossip has subsided.

In the early early days, Aish was rumoured to have got into a public catfight with a fellow model over a male model.  Well, well, she was just a kid then.

She dated Salman who went quite obsessive over her and after their break up, threatened her next squeeze, Vivek Oberoi repeatedly over his cellphone.  He also landed up on the sets of Devdas and created a scene there.  That made, reportedly, Shah Rukh drop her from his own project Chalte Chalte.

She started dating Abhishek when they were filming Guru.  Umrao Jaan came out first though and flopped.  However, Guru was a hit.

ABHIASH WEDDING

The couple married on 20th April, 2007 and it was one of the most private but the biggest bollywood wedding of recent times.  Several bollywood actors had married in recent years, Fardeen and Zayed Khan, Hritik Roshan before that.  But their brides were not from the cinema world.  Whereas here we had a bollywood bride and groom. 

Her marriage was under scanner right from the moment their horoscopes were sent to be matched.  As Aish was a Manglik, there were some rituals undertaken that brought them a lot of adverse publicity.  There were a lot of pooja's undertaken to correct the fault in the horoscope.  In addition to that, to ward off the evil effects, Aishwarya was first married to a tree.

The wedding was a closely guarded affair and no pictures were allowed to sneak out.  There was short snippet of Abhishek dancing before he went along with the baraat.  Apart from that, no pictures of the wedding are available.

It was rumoured that the Bachchans had sold the rights of the wedding pictures , a la Liz Hurley and Arun Nayyar.  But so far the pictures have not surfaced.

The latest gossip to do the rounds is that of Aishwarya's pregnancy.  However, that too, has been refuted.

FILMOGRAPHY

• Singularity (2008) (in production) [Actress .... Tulaja]
• Bhopal Movie (2008) (pre-production) [Actress .... Jasmine Singh] [Executive Producer]
• Pink Panther 2 (2009) (filming) [Actress .... Sophie]
• Jodhaa Akbar (2008) (post-production) [Actress .... Jodhaa Bai]
• Sarkar Raj (2007) (post-production) [Actress .... Neha]
• The Last Legion (2007) [Actress .... Mira]
• Guru (2007) [Actress .... Sujata G. Desai]
• Dhoom:2 (2006) [Actress .... Sunehri]
• Umrao Jaan (2006) [Actress .... Ameeran/Umrao Jaan]
• Provoked: A True Story (2006) [Actress .... Kiranjit Ahluwalia]
• The Mistress of Spices (2005) [Actress .... Tilo]
• Bunty Aur Babli (2005) [Actress .... Special Appearance (song)]
• Shabd (2005) [Actress .... Antara Vashisth/Tammana]
• Bride & Prejudice (2004) [Actress .... Lalita Bakshi]
• Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na (2004) [Actress .... Diya Malhotra]
• Raincoat (2004) [Actress .... Neerja 'Neeru']
• Khakee (2004) [Actress .... Mahalaxshmi]
• Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) [Actress .... Namrata Shrivastav]
• Chokher Bali (2003) [Actress .... Binodini]
• Dil Ka Rishta (2003) [Actress .... Tia Sharma]
• Shakthi: The Power (2002) [Actress .... Dream Girl]
• 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) [Actress .... Special Appearance (song)]
• Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (2002) [Actress .... Komal Rastogi]
• Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (2002) [Actress .... Special Appearence] [Special Thanks]
• Devdas (2002/I) [Actress .... Parvati ('Paro')]
• Albela (2001) [Actress .... Sonia]
• Mohabbatein.lkc">Mohabbatein (2000) [Actress .... Megha]
• Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000) [Actress .... Sahiba Gareval]
• Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000) [Actress .... Preeti Virat]
• Josh (2000) [Actress .... Shirley]
• Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) [Actress .... Meenakshi]
• Mela (2000) [Actress .... Champakali]
• Sanam Tere Hain Hum (2000) [Actress .... Special Appearance]
• Ravoyi Chandamama (1999) [Actress .... Special Appearance (Song)]
• Taal (1999) [Actress .... Mansi]
• Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) [Actress .... Nandini]
• Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) [Actress .... Pooja Walia]
• Jeans (1998) [Actress .... Madhumitha/Vaishnavi]
• ...Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) [Actress .... Ashi Kapoor]
• Iruvar (1997) [Actress .... Pushpa/Kalpana]