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Pero maganda parin
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Date Posted: 11/ 3/06 16:31:31
 Mumbai, Nov 01: Aishwarya Rai, regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world, turned a year older on Wednesday. It is going to be double celebrations for the beauty queen this year as her birthday falls two days before the release of her movie Umrao Jaan, in which she plays the title role. She is paired with none other than her alleged real life beau Abhishek Bachchan in the movie.
Aishwarya is currently the most known face of Indian cinema, along with Amitabh Bachchan, abroad. The once model-turned actress attained huge popularity and fan following in India and overseas in her career spanning over a decade. Despite not-so-good box office record of most of her movies, she is still one of the highest paid actress in the country charging over Rs one crore for every project.
Ash as she is lovingly called, was born on November 01, 1973 in Mangalore to Krishnaraj Rai and Vrinda Rai. Her family later relocated to Mumbai. Rai`s native language is Tulu, Kannada ; she also speaks Hindi, English, Marathi, Urdu, Telugu and Tamil. She attended the Arya Vidya Mandir at Santacruz, Mumbai, then entered Ruparel College, Matunga, Mumbai. Ash began modeling on the side while studying architecture. She was a contestant in the Miss India 1994 pageant, which she lost to Sushmita Sen. She later went on to win the Miss World title that same year.
Aishwarya Rai debuted in Mani Ratnam`s critically acclaimed Tamil language film, `Iruvar` alongside Mohanlal and Tabu in which she played a dual role. In 1997, she made her Bollywood debut in Rahul Rawail’s ‘Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya’ with Bobby Deol, but the film did not run well. Her third project, a Tamil-language film, `Jeans` by S Shankar was the first commercial success in her career.
Year 1999 was a turning point in Ash’s career. She got her first major success in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s superhit movie ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’. Both the movie and her performance were appreciated so much by the critics and the audience that she won Filmfare Best Actress Award. She mesmerised the audience in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Taal’ the same year. The movie did an average business in India but was a massive hit overseas.
She allegedly started seeing Salman Khan for some time before calling off their romance following reported abuses.
She appeared in the extremely successful Chopra’s `Mohabbatein`. In 2002, Ash starred with Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Bhansali’s lavishly produced `Devdas`, which was a major box-office success. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival and garnering international attention for Rai. She won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role as ‘Paro’.
She has been nominated four times in the Best Actress category and once in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Filmfare Awards. She has also won three IIFA Awards, three Z-Gold Awards, four Star Screen Awards, an EU`s Global Diversity Award, three Zee Cine Awards and a Rajiv Gandhi Award.
In 2003, Rai was a member of the jury at Cannes. In 2004, she was chosen by TIME Magazine`s Asian Edition as one of Asia`s "100 Most Influential People." She was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2, 2005 - "The Most Beautiful face in the World." A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, and on April 25, 2005, she was featured on Oprah`s "Women Across the Globe" segment. A wax figure of Rai is on display in London`s Madame Tussaud`s wax museum.
Cashing in on her huge popularity abroad, Ash turned westward. She appeared in British director Gurinder Chadha’s ‘Bride and Prejudice’, a Hollywood-funded but Bollywood- version of Jane Austen`s classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. Her next Hollywood project was ‘Mistress of Spices’, written by Gurinder Chadha and her husband Paul Mayeda Berges, from the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and directed by Berges, which was released in the UK in April 2006 and received milder critical and commercial reception but rave reviews in Middle East and Asia. Some of the other projects signed by her are ‘Provoked’ and ‘The Last Legion’.
However, most of Ash’s Bollywood movies all these years like `Albela`, `Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin`, `Dil Ka Rishta`, `Kuch Naa Kaho`, `Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na`, `Shabd` etc failed at the box office. Critics even began to term her ‘an average actress’ with ‘gorgeous looks’. However, Ash hit back at her critics by delivering remarkable performances in Rituparno Ghosh’s `Raincoat` and `Chokher Bali`.
Ash’s movies might not have done well, but her sizzling item number Kajra Re…with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan in `Bunty aur Babli` did magic on screen and became an instant hit.
She was also rumoured to be going around with actor Viveik Oberoi but called it quits later. Presently, she is believed to be dating none other than Bollywood heart-throb and most eligible bachelor of Bollywood Abhishek Bachchan, although, both have always maintained a silence on their alleged affair.
Currently, Ash is hogging the limelight, thanks to her three big releases all set to hit the screens soon. J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan featuring Ash and Abhishek would hit the theatres on November 03. Sanjay Gadhvi’s Dhoom-2 and Mani Ratnam’s Guru will release in November and December respectively. In all the three movies, Ash would get the opportunity to prove her versatility.
Ash has emerged as the global face of Indian beauty in the past few years. At 33, she is still one of the most sought-after actresses in the country. Let us hope she continues to shine for many more years to come.
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