Page 26 - november 2021

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AISHWARYA RAI
SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY LIKE THE NIGHT OF CLOUDLESS CLIMES AND STARRY SKIES;
AND ALL THAT’S BEST OF DARK AND BRIGHT”.
Lord Byron’s lines from his famous poem ‘She
walks in beauty’ come to my mind when I think
of Aishwariya Bacchan, winner of the Miss World
title in 1994. . Let’s wish her a very Happy
birthday as she celebrates her 47th year on
November 1. Aish as she is fondly called was
born on November 1, 1973, in Mangalore. She
has made quite a mark for herself as a beauty
with talent, starring in movies across the world.
After modeling for several advertisements, she
started her career with the illustrious director,
Mani Ratnam in the movie “ Iruvar” ( The two of
them ).Mani Ratnam is known for a great body
of work in different genres. Aish went on to do
Guru and Ravan under his baton in her later
years. She starred with Abhishek Bachchan in
both these movies. She also held her own against
the legendary Madhuri Dixit in the movie Devdas.
Madhuri is quite well known for her dancing
prowess and Asih did not stay far behind her in
the movie. She is a trained classical dancer and
quite the linguist. Besides Hindi and Kannada
DesiPages
which is her mother tongue, Aish can speak
Tulu, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi.
Aish was the first choice for Ashutosh Gowarikar
magnum opus Jodha Akbar. An interesting fact
is that she wore brown colored lenses in order
to authenticate the Jodha look in the film.
Some of her notable works include, a
proud passionate artist in Kandukonden
Kandukonden, Tagore’s Binodini in Choker
Bali, Kiranjit Ahluwalia in the British drama
film Provoked, the historicals Jodha Akbar
and Guru. Other than that she played several
interesting roles; a thief in Dhoom 2, a
depressed woman in Raincoat, Rajinikant’s
love interest in Enthiran ( Robot ), Umrao in
the remake of Umrao Jaan, to name a few.
Some fun facts about Aish;
-She was barely in her 9th grade when she
starred in a commercial for Camelin pencils.
-She would have played Amir Khan’s lead in
Raja Hindustani, but she had decided against
it and instead pursued her studies in architecture.
-She was the first Indian actor to be on the Cannes
Film Festival jury.
-She is the 2nd actor after her father-in-law
Amitabh Bachchan to have a wax statue of herself
at Madame Tussaud’s.
-She loves spa treatments with aromatherapy!
-A special variety of tulips in the famous Keukenhof
garden in the Netherlands was named after her
in 2005.
She will be next seen in the historical drama,
Ponniyin Selvan ( Ponni’s Selvan ), popularly
known as PS1 and PS2. It’s a two-part film
adaptation of Kalki’s famous historical fiction of
the same name. We wish her more success as she
approaches a new decade of her life!
DFW | November 2021 VOL 33 | 26