95 Facts About Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popular and influential celebrities in India.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has received numerous accolades for her acting, including two Filmfare Awards.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has often been called "the most beautiful woman in the world" by segments of the media.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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 and Devdas.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has participated in stage shows and is an investor and prominent brand endorser.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan married the actor Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, with whom she has a daughter.

Aishwarya Rai was born on 1 November 1973 into a Tulu-speaking Hindu family in Mangalore, Karnataka.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's father Krishnaraj Rai, who died on 18 March 2017, was a marine biologist and her mother Vrinda is a housewife.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has one elder brother Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been fluent in Tulu, Hindi and English since childhood.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens and showed interest in traditional dance forms, including Bharatanatyam.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

In 1991, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan participated in an international supermodel contest, which led to her being featured in the American edition of Vogue magazine.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continued to model until she became an actress.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starred as Pushpavalli and Kalpana, the latter of which is a fictionalised portrayal of politician and former actress Jayalalithaa.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played Nandini, a Gujarati woman who is forced into wedlock with Devgn's character, despite being in love with another man.

Bhansali cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after meeting her at a film screening and was impressed with her eyes.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan received a second Best Actress nomination that year at the Filmfare Awards ceremony.

In 2000, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starred in Kandukondain Kandukondain, a Tamil-language adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was cast as Meenakshi, who is based on Marianne Dashwood, the younger sister of Tabu's character.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan next starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Chandrachur Singh in the action drama Josh.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan portrayed Shirley Dias, the twin sister of Khan's character who falls in love with his arch enemy's brother.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played the role of Paro, the love interest of the protagonist.

Alan Morrison, writing for Empire, praised the performances of the three leads and wrote: "Aishwarya Rai Bachchan proves she has the acting talent to back up her flawless looks".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was later noted for her starring role in Rituparno Ghosh's independent Bengali film Chokher Bali, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's eponymous novel.

The film was a major critical success and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan earned praise for her performance; Derek Elley of Variety noted: "Aishwarya Rai Bachchan dominates the film with her delicately sensual presence and physical grace".

The film tells the story of five constables involved in a mystery surrounding a terrorist attack; Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played Mahalakshmi, a gun moll.

In 2004, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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 Aishwarya Rai Bachchan'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".

Gautaman Bhaskaran of The Hindu said Aishwarya Rai Bachchan "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".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan 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.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is like that picture postcard you get when what you were actually waiting for is a letter.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's 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".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played the titular role, which was played by Rekha in the first film adaptation of the novel.

In 2007, Rai played the wife of Abhishek Bachchan's character in Mani Ratnam's social drama Guru, which is fictionalised biography of businessman Dhirubhai Ambani.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan next starred alongside Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson in Jag Mundhra's independent British drama Provoked as the real-life character Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a non-resident Indian who murders her husband after suffering years of domestic abuse.

That same year, Rai Bachchan starred alongside Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth and Thomas Sangster as the Indian warrior Mira in Doug Lefler's epic film The Last Legion.

Rajeev Masand noted: "Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is wonderfully restrained and uses her eyes expertly to communicate so much, making this one of her finest outings on screen".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan then co-starred with her husband Abhishek Bachchan and her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, in Ram Gopal Verma's political drama Sarkar Raj, a sequel to the 2005 box-office hit Sarkar.

Rai Bachchan was cast as Anita Rajan, the CEO of an international power firm who proposes to set up a plant in rural Maharashtra.

Roger Ebert wrote: "Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is breathtaking in Bollywood films, where they devote a great deal of expertise to admiring beauty, but here she's underutilized and too much in the background".

In both versions, Rai Bachchan plays Ragini, the wife of a superintendent of police who is kidnapped by a bandit.

Rai Bachchan returned to Tamil cinema after a 10-year gap with Raavanan.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was cast as Sana, a college student and the girlfriend of Rajinikanth's character.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan then appeared as Mala, an impetuous brat, in Vipul Shah's Action Replayy; a science-fiction comedy co-starring Akshay Kumar, Aditya Roy Kapur and Neha Dhupia.

Rai Bachchan plays Sophia D'Souza, Mascarenas' nurse, whose alcohol-addicted husband abuses her.

The Telegraph described it as "one of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's best performances" and The Times of India said: "Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a stunning picture of fire and grace, walking away with certain scenes by her sheer vitality".

In 2011, Rai Bachchan was cast as the protagonist of Madhur Bhandarkar's social drama Heroine but due to her pregnancy, she was replaced with Kareena Kapoor, the original choice for the role.

The film is a remake of the Korean thriller Seven Days ; Rai Bachchan plays Anuradha Verma, a criminal lawyer who is forced to defend a rapist in exchange for her daughter's safety.

Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid-Day criticised the film's unnecessary and intrusive melodrama, and said Rai Bachchan "looks the part and even does a fairly decent job, barring certain emotional scenes where she clearly goes over the top".

In 2016, Rai Bachchan starred in Omung Kumar's biographical drama Sarbjit, which is based on the life of Indian farmer Sarabjit Singh, who was convicted of terrorism by a Pakistani court and whose sister Dalbir Kaur campaigned for his release.

Rai Bachchan plays Dalbir Kaur and Randeep Hooda plays Sarabjit Singh.

Rai Bachchan received positive reviews for her performance despite having limited screen time.

Rai Bachchan again worked with Mani Ratnam on Ponniyin Selvan: I and Ponniyin Selvan: II, a two-part Tamil ensemble period film that is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's eponymous epic novel.

Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times called her performance in the first part the best among the ensemble cast and in the second part to be the best of her career while Sonil Dedhia of News 18 said Rai Bachchan is "wonderfully restrained and uses her eyes expertly to communicate so much".

Rai Bachchan appeared with other Bollywood actors at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Rai Bachchan was involved in administrative operations of her father-in-law's entertainment company, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation.

In 2016, Rai Bachchan was named in the Panama Papers, a dataset that was leaked from a former Panamanian offshore law firm and was published on the Internet.

Rai Bachchan made her first commercial for Camlin exam pencils when she was in the ninth grade.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan became popular after appearing in a commercial for Pepsi with actor Aamir Khan.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the only actress who has endorsed both Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

Rai Bachchan is one of the top brand ambassadors in India.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has modelled for Longines, L'Oreal, Titan Watches, Coca-Cola, Lakme Cosmetics, Casio pager, Philips, Palmolive, Lux, Fuji films, Nakshatra Diamond Jewellery and Kalyan Jewellers.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was named the official brand ambassador for De Beers diamonds in India.

In 2012, Rai Bachchan was ranked the world's second-most-popular watch-brand ambassador in a survey World Watch Report conducted.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the brand ambassador for Eye Bank Association of India's nationwide campaign to promote eye donation.

The Aishwarya Rai Bachchan family announced it would fund the school's construction.

In September 2012, Rai Bachchan joined the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Hollywood actor Michael Douglas at a ceremony in New York City to commemorate the International Day of Peace.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was tasked with raising awareness about protection of children from HIV infection and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment.

In 1999, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan began dating Bollywood actor Salman Khan; their relationship was often reported in media until the couple separated in 2002.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan cited "abuse, infidelity and indignity" on the part of Khan as reasons for ending the relationship.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan then had a romantic relationship with actor Vivek Oberoi that ended in 2005.

Actor Abhishek Bachchan fell in love with Rai whilst filming Dhoom 2.

Rai Bachchan is very close to her family and lived with them in Bandra, Mumbai, until her marriage.

Rai Bachchan gave birth to a girl on 16 November 2011.

Rai Bachchan was accompanied by her husband to Cannes Film Festival shortly after their marriage, and later to The Oprah Winfrey Show, on which they appeared on 28 September 2009.

Rai Bachchan is the first Indian celebrity to appear twice on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan attended the 83rd Academy Awards with her husband.

In 2023, Anjali Belgaumkar of The Indian Express noted despite appearing in around 10 films in a decade, Rai Bachchan still appealed to the younger generation because her impact was not limited to her on-screen roles or fashion choices but there was an element of "divaness" that made her popular.

Rai Bachchan has appeared on television chat shows such as Late Show with David Letterman, and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on Oprahs segment "Women Across the Globe".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was the highest-ranked Indian actor on the list.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was present on Box Office India's lists of "Top Bollywood Actresses" for ten years, and was ranked first on its top actresses lists from 2000 to 2009, and was ranked second on its list of "All Time Top Actress".

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was placed in Outlook Indias list of "75 Best Bollywood Actresses".

From 2012 to 2015, and in 2018, Rai Bachchan was placed on Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, which is based on the income and popularity of Indian celebrities, peaking at number 34 in 2015 with an annual income of 480 million.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's wealth has been estimated at 7.76 billion.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on 2 January 2005, which said: "at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts", Rai Bachchan was "the world's most beautiful woman".

Rai Bachchan ranked second in The Times of Indias list of the 50 most-desirable women of 2010, and was ranked ninth in 2011.

In October 2004, a wax figure of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was put on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

Rai Bachchan has received two Filmfare Awards awards for Best Actress for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was appointed to the jury of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and was the first Indian actress to represent India as a jury member in the festival.

In 2009, Rai Bachchan received a Padma Shri for her contributions to Indian cinema.