Aishwarya Rai
Early Life
Aishwarya Rai was born on November 1st, 1973, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. At an early age her parents, Krishnaraj and Vrinda, moved the family to Mumbai. There she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir high school and later Jai Hind College at Churchgate before she moved to Ruparel College in Matunga to finish her studies. After leaving high school Rai began working as a model to support her while she studied architecture at college. In 1994 she entered the Miss India beauty pageant. Although she finished in second place behind Sushmita Sen, Rai went on to win the Miss World title the same year. She abandoned her academic education after winning the title in order to move to London, England as part of the Miss World competition. She then started working as a professional model. After appearing in Vogue Magazine and landing a prestigious Pepsi campaign Rai soon became one of the most successful and sought after models in India. Career Highlights Rai made her acting debut, in 1997, in Mani Ratnam's controversial biopic film, Iruvar. Rai appeared opposite veteran actor Mohanlal, in dual roles one of which saw her portray the Tamil political leader and former actress J. Jayalalithaa. The following year she appeared in S. Shankar's blockbuster Tamil film, Jeans, for which she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award South. The film was also noted for the song "Poovukkul", dubbing Rai as the "eighth wonder of the world", with the music video comparing her to seven other prominent world monuments. In 1999 Rai starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam opposite Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. Her portrayal of Nandini won her critical acclaim, and the film became her first box office success in Bollywood and won Rai her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. Later the same year she appeared in Subhash Ghai's Taal, in which she played the role of a young village girl, Mansi, who finds fame as a Pop star. The film was an average performer in India but was a big success among the international audience, most notably in the United States, where it became the first Indian film to reach the Top 20 on Variety's box office list. Rai received another Best Actress nomination at the Filmfare Awards for her performance. Rai’s biggest success of 2000 was in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan, the film was a major commercial success and became the second highest grossing film of the year, it also earned her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award nomination. 2000 also saw Rai appear in Mansoor Khan's Josh, a Indian version of West Side Story set in Goa, and in Satish Kaushik's Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, opposite Anil Kapoor, for which she earned a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, alongside Mammooty, Ajith Kumar and Tabu.
Rai’s only film released in 2001, Albela, received poor reviews. However 2002 saw her return to her best when she appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel of the same name. Rai played the role of Paro (Parvati), the love interest of the protagonist played by Khan. The film won ten Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Actress for Rai, and received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Rai appeared in three films in 2003. The first, Chokher Bali, in which she played Binodini, a young widow, was nominated for the Golden Leopard (Best Film) award at the Locarno International Film Festival. This was followed by a appearance as Tia in Dil Ka Rishta, a film that was produced by her brother, Aditya. Later that year Rai starred opposite Abhishek Bachchan in Rohan Sippy's Kuch Naa Kaho. In 2004 she appeared in her first English language film, Gurinder Chadha's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Bride and Prejudice alongside Martin Henderson. In the film she portrayed the role of Lalita Bakshi, the film's counterpart of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen's novel. This was followed by Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee alongside her future husband Amitabh Bachchan, in the film she played the role of the murderer Mahalakshmi, the first time in her career she has played the part of the villain. In the years other highlight she appeared in her second film with Rituparno Ghosh, Raincoat, as Neeru for which she was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. In 2005 she appeared in Shabd a film based on a love triangle alongside Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan. Although the film received some positive reviews from the critics, it performed poorly at the box office. Her next release that year was Paul Mayeda Berges's The Mistress of Spices based upon the novel The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in which she starred alongside Dylan McDermott. The same year she made a special appearance in Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli in a hugely popular dance sequence for the song "Kajra Re", alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. In 2006, Rai starred in J P Dutta's Umrao Jaan, a film adaptation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa 1905 novel Umrao Jaan Ada. Although the film was a commercial failure, Rai's work was generally well received by the critics. Later that year she appeared in Sanjay Gadhvi’s blockbuster Dhoom 2. Rai played the role of master thief, Sunheri alongside an ensemble cast of Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra. The film became the highest grossing film of the year in India and Rai’s performance earned her a sixth nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. The film also sparked a controversy for a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan. In 2007 she appeared in Mani Ratnam's Guru a film based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani. The film was critically acclaimed and performed well at the box office as well as earning Rai yet another nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. That year she also appeared in two English language films. The first was in the British film Provoked as Kiranjit, a woman who kills her violent and abusive husband, played by Naveen Andrews. The second saw her appear as a female Indian warrior from Kerala named Mira, in Doug Lefler's epic The Last Legion alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth and Thomas Sangster. Both films were regarded as flops by the critics. 2008 saw Rai earn her eighth nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare awards for her performance as Jodha Bai, the Hindu wife of the Muslim Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar in Ashutosh Gowariker's historical drama Jodhaa Akbar. The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest Bollywood grosser’s of the year. 2008 also saw her co-star with husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Verma's Sarkar Raj. In early 2009 Rai appeared as Sonia Solandres, a criminology expert, in The Pink Panther 2 the sequel to the 2006 film The Pink Panther, a remake of the popular comedy series starring Steve Martin. Her next project is the Tamil film, Endhiran, directed by S. Shankar. In an interview to the news channel Aaj Tak she confirmed a fee of 6 Crores for the film, making her the highest paid actress in Indian film history.
Aishwarya Rai Filmography 1997 - Iruvar - Pushpa/Kalpana 1997 - Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya - Ashi Kapoor 1998 - Jeans - Madhumita 1999 - Aa Ab Laut Chalen - Pooja 1999 - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam - Nandini 1999 - Taal - Mansi 2000 - Mela - Champakali 2000 - Kandukondain Kandukondain - Meenakshi Bala 2000 - Josh - Shirley 2000 - Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai - Preeti Virat 2000 - Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke - Sahiba Grewal 2000 - Mohabbatein - Megha 2001 - Albela - Sonia 2002 - Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam - Suman 2002 - Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin - Komal Rastogi 2002 - Devdas - Parvati 2003 - Chokher Bali - Binodhini 2003 - Dil Ka Rishta - Tia Sharma 2003 - Kuch Naa Kaho - Namrata Shrivastav 2004 - Bride & Prejudice - Lalita Bakshi 2004 - Khakee - Mahalakshmi 2004 - Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na - Diya Malhotra 2004 - Raincoat - Neerja 2005 - Shabd - Antara Vashist/Tammana 2005 - Mistress of Spices - Tilo 2006 - Umrao Jaan - Umrao Jaan 2006 - Dhoom 2 -i Sunehri 2007 - Guru - Sujata 2007 - Provoked English - Kiranjit Ahluwalia 2007 - The Last Legion E- Mira 2008 - Jodhaa Akbar - Jodhaa Bai 2008 - Sarkar Raj - Anita Rajan 2009 - The Pink Panther 2 - Sonia Solandres Aishwarya Rai Trivia Aishwarya Rai Links Babe Invasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Celeb We Love | Chickipedia | Famous Hookups | Famous Why | Free Ones | Hot Flick | IMDB | Net Glimse | Perfect People | Star Pages | Utopian Vision |
