Aishwarya Rai

Biography

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (pronounced [ɛːʃʋəɾjᵊ ɾɑːj ˈbətːʃən]; née Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popular and influential celebrities in India. She has received numerous accolades for her acting, including two Filmfare Awards. In 2004, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri and in 2012, the Government of France awarded her with the Order of Arts and Letters. While in college, Rai modelled and appeared in several television commercials, and entered the Miss India pageant, in which she was placed second. She was then crowned Miss World 1994, made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's 1997 Tamil film Iruvar and had her Hindi film debut in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya that year. Her first commercial success was the Tamil romantic drama Jeans (1998), which at the time was the most expensive Indian film. She achieved wider success and won two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for her performances in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic dramas Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002). Rai garnered critical appreciation for portraying a passionate artist in Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), a seductive widow in Chokher Bali (2003), an unhappily married woman in Raincoat (2004), Kiranjit Ahluwalia in Provoked (2006), and a nurse in Bhansali's Guzaarish (2010). Her greatest commercial successes have been the romantic dramas Mohabbatein (2000) and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), the adventure film Dhoom 2 (2006), the biographical drama Guru (2007), the science-fiction film Enthiran (2010), and the period films Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023). Rai's off-screen roles include being an ambassador for several charity organisations and supporting philanthropic causes through her namesake foundation. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2012. She has also participated in stage shows and is an investor and prominent brand endorser. In 2003, she was the first Indian actress to be a juror at the Cannes Film Festival. She married the actor Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, with whom she has a daughter.

== Early life and education == Aishwarya Rai was born on 1 November 1973 into a Tulu Hindu family in Mangalore, Karnataka. Her father Krishnaraj Rai, who died on 18 March 2017, was a marine biologist and her mother Vrinda is a housewife. She has one elder brother Aditya Rai, an engineer in the merchant navy. Rai's movie Dil Ka Rishta (2003) was co-produced by her brother and co-written by her mother. She has been fluent in Tulu, Hindi and English since childhood, and has also stated that she speaks Marathi and Tamil. Rai's family later moved to Mumbai due to her father's job transfer. There, she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir High School. She had her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year and then enrolled at D. G. Ruparel College in Matunga, securing 90 percent in the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (HSC) exams. Describing her desire to maintain a good academic standing, she said: "I've always got a first rank except for my seventh grade mid-term when I stood second. When I came to the 10th grade, my seniors, my juniors, everybody thought I'd top the ICSE board exams. But I came seventh or eighth in class and that was a huge ego blow." Rai trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens and showed interest in traditional dance forms, including Bharatanatyam. Her favourite subject was zoology and she initially considered a career in medicine. Planning to become an architect, she enrolled at Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture, but later gave up her education to pursue a career in modelling. Rai had appeared as a child model for Camlin pencils and later, photographs of her taken by her English professor for a project went viral, and photographers Gautam Rajadhyaksha and Farrokh Chothia contacted her to appear in advertisements.

== Modelling career == In 1991, Rai participated in an international supermodel contest, which led to her being featured in the American edition of Vogue magazine. In 1993, she gained wide public recognition for her appearance in a Pepsi commercial with actors Aamir Khan and Mahima Chaudhry. Her single line of dialogue "Hi, I'm Sanjana" became popular.

In the 1994 Miss India pageant, Rai won second place behind Sushmita Sen and was crowned Miss India World, also winning the titles Miss Catwalk, Miss Miraculous, Miss Photogenic, Miss Perfect Ten and Miss Popular. As first runner-up, Rai's duties included representing India in the rival Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa. She went on to win the pageant, and the Miss Photogenic award and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty − Asia and Oceania. After winning Miss World, Rai said she dreamt of world peace and that she wanted to be an ambassador of peace during her one-year reign in London. In 1995, Aishwarya Rai went on a world tour, including to Colombo and Sri Lanka, in her capacity as ambassador of peace during her reign as Miss world, representing the organisation for their "beauty with a purpose" initiative. Prior to participating in beauty pageants, she had received four offers to star in movies but she decided to participate in Miss India to step back from the film industry for a bit. She said in an interview, "If I hadn't taken part in Miss India, Raja Hindustani (1996) would have been my first film." She continued to model until she became an actress.

== Acting career ==

=== Debut and breakthrough (1997–1999) === Rai made her acting debut in 1997 with Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar, a semi-biographical political drama co-starring Mohanlal, Prakash Raj, Tabu and Revathi. The film was a critical success, and won the Best Film award at the Belgrade International Film Festival among other awards. Rai starred as Pushpavalli and Kalpana, the latter of which is a fictionalised portrayal of politician and former actress Jayalalithaa. Her dialogue in the film was dubbed by Tamil actress Rohini. In the same year, Rai was cast as a young woman in an arranged marriage set-up, Ashi, opposite Bobby Deol in her first Bollywood film Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, a romantic comedy. Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya was a commercial failure and reviewers were critical of her acting ability. For her role, she won a Screen Award for Best Female Debut. In the 1998 big-budget Tamil romantic drama Jeans, which S. Shankar directed, Rai appeared alongside Prashanth as Madhumita, a young woman who accompanies her ailing grandmother to the United States to seek medical attention. The film was a commercial success, and earned her praise for her acting and dancing skills. In this film, her dialogue was dubbed by Savitha Reddy. Jeans, which was the most expensive Indian film at the time, was submitted as India's official entry to the Academy Awards for 1998 but was not nominated. Rai's first role of 1999 was in the melodrama Aa Ab Laut Chalen, which Rishi Kapoor directed. The film was a critical failure and had a below-average performance at the box office. Her portrayal of Pooja Walia, a traditional Indian woman living in the United States, met with negative reviews; Rediff.com said: "Rai sports a plastic smile and never gets a scene where she can portray any depth. All she does is cry and smile and look pretty." Also in 1999, Rai starred in the romantic musical Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which became a significant turning point in her career. The film is an adaptation of Maitreyi Devi's Bengali novel Na Hanyate; it was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and co-starred Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. Rai played Nandini, a Gujarati woman who is forced into wedlock with Devgn's character, despite being in love with another man (played by Khan). Bhansali cast Rai after meeting her at a film screening and was impressed with her eyes. Khalid Mohamed of Bombay Talkies wrote that she has "an unquestionable felicity for acting", and has "that impossible combination of breathtaking beauty and brains". Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was a commercial success and won Rai a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Rai next took up the leading role of Mansi, a naive young woman with an exceptional singing talent, in Subhash Ghai's musical Taal alongside Akshay Khanna and Anil Kapoor. A reviewer from Rediff.com praised her acting and dancing in the film, and wrote: "Taal will again enhance her reputation as an actress while in no way detracting from her image as a traffic-stopper". Taal was a commercial success and is notable for being the first Indian film to appear in the top-20 listing at the American box office. Rai received a second Best Actress nomination that year at the Filmfare Awards ceremony.

=== Established actress and success (2000–2008) === In 2000, Rai starred in Kandukondain Kandukondain, a Tamil-language adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility. Rajiv Menon directed the film, which also stars Mammooty, Tabu and Ajith Kumar. She was cast as Meenakshi, who is based on Marianne Dashwood, the younger sister of Tabu's character. The film was a critical and commercial success, and earned Rai positive comments from critics; a review carried by The Indian Express said: "Attacking her role with just the perfect dollop of innocence, Rai does full justice to her part, and matches up perfectly to Tabu". Rai next starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Chandrachur Singh in the action drama Josh. She portrayed Shirley Dias, the twin sister of Khan's character who falls in love with his arch enemy's brother (played by Singh). The casting of Rai as Khan's sister was considered an unusual pairing at the time but director Mansoor Khan described it as "perfect". Critics gave Josh mixed reviews and it was a commercial success. In Satish Kaushik's social drama Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, Rai played a rape victim. The film co-stars Anil Kapoor and Sonali Bendre, and was well-received by critics and did well at the box office. Sukanya Verma praised Rai's decision to star in the film and said she "conveys the turmoil and pain of a rape victim well. But it is her transition from an emotional wreck trying to gather the broken pieces of her life back together, that is amazing." Her performance in the film earned her a third Best Actress nomination at Filmfare. Following a leading role in the box-office failure Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Rai played a supporting role in Aditya Chopra's musical romantic drama Mohabbatein. She played Megha Shankar, the daughter of Amitabh Bachchan's character, who commits suicide after realizing her father will not accept her romance with one of his students (played by Shah Rukh Khan). Mohabbatein received positive reviews from critics, became the highest-grossing film of the year and earned Rai a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, she starred alongside Govinda and Jackie Shroff in the romantic comedy Albela, which together with her performance, received mostly negative reviews; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama criticised the film and said Rai is "plastic in some scenes".

After featuring in David Dhawan's slapstick comedy film Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, Rai appeared alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period romantic drama Devdas, an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name. Rai played the role of Paro (Parvati), the love interest of the protagonist (Khan). The film was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and it was featured by Time in its listing of the "10 Best Films of the Millennium". Devdas was a major international success with a revenue of over ₹840 million (US$8.7 million). Alan Morrison, writing for Empire, praised the performances of the three leads and wrote: "Rai proves she has the acting talent to back up her flawless looks". Devdas was chosen as India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received a nomination at the BAFTA Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. In India, the film won 10 Filmfare Awards, including a second Best Actress award for Rai. Also in 2002, she participated in the UK television show From India with Love along with Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. The show took place at Manchester's Old Trafford and London's Hyde Park, with over 100,000 spectators. In 2003, Rai starred in two romantic dramas—her brother's production début Dil Ka Rishta alongside Arjun Rampal and Rohan Sippy's Kuch Naa Kaho alongside Abhishek Bachchan. Neither of these films fared well critically or commercially. She was later noted for her starring role in Rituparno Ghosh's independent Bengali film Chokher Bali, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's eponymous novel. Rai portrayed Binodini, an emotionally manipulative widow who is struggling with her sexual desires in early-20th century Bengal. The film was a major critical success and Rai earned praise for her performance; Derek Elley of Variety noted: "Rai dominates the film with her delicately sensual presence and physical grace". Commercially, the film was a sleeper hit. After the success of Chokher Bali, Rai returned to mainstream Hindi film in Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee (2004), an action thriller featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Tusshar Kapoor. The film tells the story of five constables involved in a mystery surrounding a terrorist attack; Rai played Mahalakshmi, a gun moll. While filming for Khakee, she was accidentally hit by a running car that caused a fracture in her left foot. Upon release, the film was a moderate critical and commercial success. In her next release, the romantic comedy Kyun! Ho Gaya Na..., Rai played Diya Malhotra, a university student who develops a one-sided attraction toward her friend Arjun Khanna (played by Vivek Oberoi). The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics but was commercially unsuccessful. In 2004, Rai garnered international recognition for her starring role opposite Martin Henderson in Gurinder Chadha's British film Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. International film critics expressed mixed views on Rai's performance as the Punjabi version of Elizabeth Bennet; a review carried by The New York Times called her "radiantly beautiful but inert" while Rolling Stone noted "she is a world-class hottie with talent to match, as she proves in her first English-speaking role". With a worldwide gross of $24 million against a production budget of $7 million, Bride and Prejudice was a commercial success. Rai next collaborated with director Rituparno Ghosh for the second time on the 2004 relationship drama Raincoat, an adaptation of O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Critics praised the film and noted the lack of glamour in Rai's role, which earned her a Best Actress nomination at Filmfare. Derek Elley of Variety called Raincoat a "chamber-sized gem" and said Rai had shunned "her usual immaculate makeup and duds, and looking more like a broken, malfunctioning doll". Gautaman Bhaskaran of The Hindu said Rai "looks quite plain [and] seems to have made an earnest effort to emote, using less of her body and limbs and more of her face, and eyes in particular". Rai next co-starred alongside Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan in the 2005 adult drama Shabd, which tells the story of an author who as research for his next book, persuades his wife to pursue a relationship with a younger man. The film received predominantly negative reviews and was a commercial failure. The Times of India said: "For the umpteenth time, Ms. Rai looks drop-dead gorgeous. And that's about it. She is like that picture postcard you get when what you were actually waiting for is a letter. It's very beautiful to look at, but is of no use because it says nothing." In the same year, Rai took on the lead role of Tilo in Paul Mayeda Berges's romantic fantasy film The Mistress of Spices, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Critics gave the film negative reviews and it was a commercial failure. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Rai's performance "annoying" and wrote she "wafts and simpers" through the entire film. Her only successful venture of 2005 was a special appearance in Shaad Ali's crime comedy Bunty Aur Babli, in which she featured in the popular item number "Kajra Re". In 2006, Rai starred in J. P. Dutta's Umrao Jaan and Yash Raj Films' Dhoom 2. Umrao Jaan is an adaptation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa's Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), which tells the story of a doomed courtesan from 19th-century Lucknow. Rai played the titular role, which was played by Rekha in the first film adaptation of the novel (1981). Reviewers, while comparing the film to the 1981 adaptation, were critical of the film and of her performance. According to Joshi Poonam of the BBC: "While only Rai could emulate the grace and poise of Rekha, she doesn't quite capture the intensity of Umrao's abiding melancholy", and "Rai's incandescent beauty and artistry [..] does indeed keep the audience watching, though not necessarily emotionally engaged". In the Sanjay Gadhvi-directed adventure film Dhoom 2, Rai portrayed Sunehri, a petty thief who helps police catch an illusive criminal; the film has an ensemble cast including Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra. Critics gave Dhoom 2 mixed-to-positive reviews and the film was Rai's first major commercial success since Devdas. The film was declared a blockbuster, and became the highest-grossing Indian film of 2006 with gross revenues of over ₹1.11 billion (US$12 million). Rediff.com commented: "[Rai] is all gloss and no depth. You seldom feel any tension in her behaviour and expressions. ...Sunehri enters the film nearly 50 minutes after its opening in a disguise. In no time, she is wearing the flimsiest of clothes. Once she opens her mouth—and she does it two minutes after appearing in the film—she spoils the image." Nonetheless, her performance earned her a sixth Filmfare Award nomination in the Best Actress category.