Sunday, April 22, 2007

Aishwarya Rai

Kannada: ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯ ರೈ, Devanāgarī: ऐश्वर्या रय, IPA: [æʃvərjɑː rɑːj]) (born on November 1, 1973), is a two-time Filmfare Award-winning Indian actress and is the highest paid actress in India.[1] and She was awarded the Miss World title in 1994. Rai has acted in Hindi, Tamil, BengaliEnglish films. She is regarded as one of the biggest stars in South Asia[2] and is one of the most popular and successful actresses in India.[3]

Biography

Career

Aishwarya Rai debuted in Mani Ratnam's Tamil language film, Iruvar with Mohanlal. She played a dual role in the film. She was introduced to Bollywood by Rahul Rawail in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya; the film was a poor performer at the box office. However, her third project, a Tamil-language film, Jeans by S. Shankar was a commercial success and she also played the female lead in Rajeev Menon's Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain with Mammootty and Tabu which was a success. She was awarded the Filmfare Best Actress Award South for Jeans. Aishwarya then appeared in popular Bollywood films Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Taal(1999). Her performance as Nandini in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was highly acclaimed. Her flawless looks, acting, and dancing in the film fascinated the audiences. She was awarded the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role in the film.Taal was also commercially successful and it established her as one of the pre-eminent ladies in Bollywood. It earned her a second Filmfare nomination in the same year. She then appeared in the commercially successful Mohabbatein(2000) and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai. Her role as a rape victim in Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai was critically acclaimed, thus making her the most successful actress of 1999 and 2000.[4]

In 2002, Rai appeared with Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the 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. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role. Thereafter in 2003 she worked in the critically acclaimed Bengali Film Chokher Bali.

In 2003, Rai was a member of the jury at Cannes, and in 2004, she was chosen by TIME Magazine's Asian Edition as one of Asia's "100 Most Influential People" and in 2003, appeared on the Cover of TIME Magazine . 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.

In the past, Indian actors and actresses have been celebrities only in Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, but were mostly unknown to the rest of the world. Aishwarya is one of the few Indian actresses to have attempted to step into Western territory. Although frequently the subject of gossip column speculation about an imminent Hollywood career, it was only in 2004 that Rai finally acted in a foreign film, when British director Gurinder Chadha hired her to play the heroine in Bride and Prejudice, a Hollywood-funded but Bollywood-influenced version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Her next overseas venture, Mistress of Spices, from the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges, was released in the U.K. in April 2006. She played the title role in Umrao Jaan which released on November 3, 2006. The film was a commercial failure but gained Aishwarya positive reviews for her performance. She played a somewhat negative role in Dhoom 2, a sequel to the 2004 hit Dhoom, was released on November 24, 2006. Dhoom 2 has been a huge hit all over the globe.

On January 11, 2007, her film Guru, premiered in Toronto. This was proof of Aishwarya's success, as it is rare for a Bollywood film to premiere in North America. The film and her role in it were both commercially and critically successful. Her most recent film Provoked, where she played the protagonist, was released in India and the UK on 6th April 2007 and was critically acclaimed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur were said to have been very touched by the film and Aishwarya's acting in it.

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