Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Aishwarya Rai

• Aishwarya Rai did her first commercial advertisement for Camlin pencils when she was in the 9th standard.

  

• Reportedly, during her school days, she was a bright student and consistently used to score above 90%.

• Once, Aishwarya Rai shared in a media conversation that if she was not an actress, she would have pursued a career in either architecture or medicine because she has always been interested in Zoology.

• While she was in 12th grade, her English professor, who was also a photojournalist, suggested her to do a photo shoot for a fashion magazine. Aishwarya Rai initially declined modelling offers to focus on her studies; however, the glamour industry attracted her after her 12th exams, leading her to try modelling for fun.

• At eighteen, she won an international supermodel contest by Ford Motor Company and was thereafter featured in American Vogue.  After winning the contest, she started her modelling career by signing various assignments and taking up TV commercials.

• During her teenage years, Aishwarya Rai underwent five years of classical dance and music training. She had a keen interest in traditional dance forms like Bharatanatyam.

  

• In 1991, she won an international supermodel contest and was featured in the American edition of Vogue magazine.

  

• Initially, she also tried her luck in voice-dubbing for a TV serial but was rejected.

• In 1993, Aishwarya Rai came into the limelight with her Pepsi commercial alongside Aamir Khan and Mahima Chaudhry.

  

• Before joining beauty pageants, Rai had four film offers but chose to join Miss India instead and took a break from the film industry. She once mentioned in a media talk that if she had not participated in Miss India, ‘Raja Hindustani’ would have been her debut film.

•  In 1994, she was one of the top contenders in the Femina Miss India beauty pageant, where she lost to Sushmita Sen and emerged as the first runner-up.

  

• At Miss India 1994, Aishwarya received five additional titles including “Miss Catwalk,” “Miss Miraculous,” “Miss Photogenic,” “Miss Perfect Ten,” and “Miss Popular.”

• She then competed in the Miss World competition in South Africa, where she received a big surprise from all the contestants and the jury of the contest on her birthday; all of them wished Aishwarya a Happy Birthday by singing in their respective languages.

• On 19 November 1994, Aishwarya was crowned Miss World.

  

• After Rai won Miss World, she said she dreamt of world peace and wanted to be a peace ambassador during her one-year reign in London. She kept modelling until she became an actress.

• Julia Roberts once remarked, “Aishwarya Rai is the most beautiful woman in the world.”

• Reportedly, she is the only actress to have been featured in advertisements for both Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

• Aishwarya Rai’s role in the 1999 film “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” marked a significant milestone in her career. The film, based on Maitreyi Devi’s Bengali novel “Na Hanyate,” was a commercial success.

• In 1999, Aishwarya Rai, along with Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Akshaye Khanna, and Twinkle Khanna went on a world tour for the Mega Millennium Concert. Together, they were referred to as the Magnificent Five.

• She became the Longines Ambassador of Elegance in 1999.

• Her relationship with Salman Khan was controversial, and after her break-up with him, she claimed that she faced abuse (verbal, physical and emotional) from Salman Khan.

• In 1999, Aishwarya Rai starred in the film “Taal,” directed by Subhash Ghai, portraying the character of Mansi, an aspiring singer.

• In 2000, Aishwarya Rai worked in the Tamil film “Kandukondain Kandukondain,” an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel “Sense and Sensibility.”

• In the 2000 Hindi film “Josh,” Aishwarya Rai acted alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Chandrachur Singh.

• Following that, Aishwarya Rai portrayed a rape victim in Satish Kaushik’s social drama “Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai,” featuring Anil Kapoor and Sonali Bendre.

• In 2001, she went on her first North American concert tour named Craze 2001 with Anil Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Preity Zinta, and Gracy Singh.

• Aishwarya Rai starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s “Devdas” in 2002, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. She portrayed Paro in the film. After that, the film was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival and was recognized as one of the “10 Best Films of the Millennium” by Time Magazine.                                                                                                                                                             

• During the making of the song Dola Re Dola from the film Devdas (2002), Aishwarya Rai suffered from ear bleeding due to heavy earrings.

  

• In 2003, Aishwarya Rai became the second Indian actress (1st was Parveen Babi) to appear on the cover page of TIME magazine.

  

• Aishwarya Rai became a global brand ambassador for L’Oréal in 2003, alongside Andie MacDowell, Eva Longoria, and Penélope Cruz. She was also named the official brand ambassador for De Beers Diamonds in India.

• She then went on to appear in various films such as Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) opposite Abhishek Bachchan, Bride and Prejudice (2004) opposite Martin Henderson, and Raincoat (2004) alongside Ajay Devgn. Raincoat was based on O. Henry’s romantic novel ‘The Gift of the Magi.’

  

• During the shooting of the film Khakee (2004), Aishwarya Rai met with an accident after the stuntmen lost the control of the car. She suffered various cuts on her body in the accident.

  

• In 2004, she became the first Indian actress to have her wax statue at London’s Madame Tussauds Museum.

  

• Aishwarya Rai was offered the role of Breseis in the film Troy in 2004, but she turned down the offer.

• She founded the Aishwarya Rai Foundation in 2004 to support needy people in India.

• In 2005, Aishwarya Rai was selected as the spokesperson for the International Year of Microcredit, where she promoted awareness of the United Nations’ initiatives to clear poverty through microfinance.

• In 2005, she gained attention for her item number “Kajra Re” in the film “Bunty Aur Babli,” dancing alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan.                                                                       

• Initially signed for the role of Simmi in the film Bluffmaster (2005), Aishwarya Rai was later replaced by Priyanka Chopra without notice. In the end credits of the film, director Rohan Sippy included a “Special thanks” message to Aishwarya Rai as an apology.

• In 2005, the Netherlands government named a variety of Tulip flowers in the Netherlands after Aishwarya Rai in a celebration of her beauty.

  

• She, along with her family, owns a production company, Target Films.

• In February 2005, Aishwarya Rai performed alongside other Bollywood stars at the HELP! Telethon Concert, aimed at raising funds for the victims of the 2004 tsunami earthquake.

• In 2006, she starred in two films, J. P. Dutta’s “Umrao Jaan” and Yash Raj Films’ “Dhoom 2.”

• She performed in the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, alongside other Bollywood actors.

• Aishwarya Rai often campaigns for the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), PETA India, and the Polio Campaign.

  

• In 2006, Aishwarya Rai appeared in the British drama film “Provoked” directed by Jag Mundhra.

• Abhishek Bachchan fell for Aishwarya Rai during the filming of Dhoom 2, and they got engaged in January 2007. They tied the knot in April 2007, celebrating with traditional Hindu and Bengali rituals at Bachchan’s Mumbai residence, “Prateeksha.”

• Her grand wedding in 2007 was worth about Rs. 6 crores. She adorned a 53-carat solitaire engagement ring valued at Rs. 50 lakh and received approximately 15 kg of gold.

  

• Aishwarya Rai was part of the “Unforgettable World Tour” stage production from July to August 2008, along with other Indian actors like Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Ritesh Deshmukh, and Madhuri Dixit.

• In the same year, she acted in the romantic drama film Jodhaa Akbar, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. She also starred in the sequel Sarkar Raj alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan.

• In 2009, Aishwarya Rai appeared in The Pink Panther 2, a spy comedy film, and later that year, she was part of a modern-day adaptation of the Indian epic Ramayana.

• In 2009, she became the 1st Indian and South Asian actress to appear in the famous Oprah Winfrey Show.

  

•  In 2009, Aishwarya Rai played a huge role to improve the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL), founded by Amitabh Bachchan in 1994.

• She was appointed as the first Goodwill Ambassador of Smile Train in 2009.

• Aishwarya Rai has Katsaridaphobia, i.e. fear of cockroaches.

• In 2010, she acted in Vipul Shah’s Hindi film Action Replayy.                                                   

• In 2012, she was ranked the world’s second-most-popular watch-brand ambassador in a World Watch Report survey.

• In September 2012, Aishwarya Rai attended a ceremony in New York City with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and actor Michael Douglas to mark the International Day of Peace.

• In 2013, TTK Group appointed both Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan as their brand ambassadors.

• After a five-year break, Aishwarya Rai returned to the industry in 2015 with the film Jazbaa, a remake of the Korean thriller Seven Days (2007).                                                                                                                                                               

• In 2016, she starred in the film Sarbjit, directed by Omung Kumar, which premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.

• The same year, she played the role of Saba, a poet, in the romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, produced by Karan Johar.

• Her fans like to call her by the nicknames Aish or Ash, but she does not prefer it. In interviews and media appearances, she often requests her fans to address her only as “Aishwarya.”

• In 1998, Aishwarya Rai had a photograph taken with Ranbir Kapoor, and 18 years later, in 2016, they co-starred in the film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

  

• In 2018, she acted in the comedy-drama film Fanney Khan, playing the role of a singer.

• Since childhood, Aishwarya Rai has been fluent in Tulu, Hindi, and English.

• In 2022, she appeared in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: I.                                                                                                                               

• In May 2022, a modelling invoice from the early stage of her career went viral on the internet. The bill, dated 23 May 1992, was about two years before she won the Miss World title in 1994. It revealed that she was paid Rs. 1,500 for her work in a magazine shoot.

  

• In 2023, Aishwarya Rai walked the ramp at the Paris Fashion Week, but her appearance triggered online trolling. Some internet users made comments about her facial appearance, using terms like “overfilled” and “too much Botox.” Many users even assumed that her fuller look might be a sign of pregnancy. ^[10]The Times of India

• She has reportedly got her eyes insured.

• In October 2024, she was featured in the Hurun Rich List of 2024 as the second richest Indian actress.