Unlike Kajol, Aishwarya Rai didn’t preside over the entire decade of the 1990s. In fact, she entered the nineties scene rather late. She became Miss World in 1994, which set off her film career. Her debut Hindi-language film, “Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya,” came out three years later. True Bollywood success didn’t come her way, however, until 1999 with the super hit romantic drama, “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.”Aishwarya is considered by some, and perhaps myself included, to be a goddess. Her beauty and grace are otherworldly, both shown off especially by her dancing. She is one of the best female dancers in the Bollywood industry that has been classically trained. Aishwarya’s grace is not merely a physical attribute, but one that describes her personality as well. While she is sharp-witted and sharp-tongued in interviews, she has an air of graciousness and realness, which only serves to enhance her beauty and appeal. This appeal is no doubt what caused her to be declared one of the one hundred most influential people by Time Magazine in the 2000s.
“Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” (meaning “I Have Given My Heart, Darling) is now considered a classic by Bollywood enthusiasts and critics alike. Aishwarya’s screen presence during it is vibrant, emotive, and captivating. In fact, she carries the first half of the film herself as her costar, Salman Khan, is a bit of a wet blanket the whole time. She, like Kajol, is a master of facial expressions. She never doesn’t use her ability to portray varying emotions without speaking a word. Her facial expressions are of particular note in the song “Nimbooda Nimbooda,” which is a teasing folk-style song about lemons, to put it as simply as one can. For varying aspects of her performance in “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,” Aishwarya garnered a total of seven awards and from then her status as a Bollywood queen bee was set firm.
Since the nineties, Aishwarya has acted in many brilliant films, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s masterpiece “Devdas” in 2002, which is the third Hindi film adaptation of a popular Bengali novel. A personal favorite film of mine starring Aishwarya is “Kuch Naa Kaho” (in English “Don’t Say Anything”) which was released a year after “Devdas.” Her beauty and incredible acting are both markers of this film as is the fact that she starred opposite Abhishek Bachchan in it. Abhishek is Amitabh Bachchan’s son and, at the time, was her future husband, although neither of them knew it. Their chemistry was brilliant, obviously.
Aishwarya has also acted in English-language films, including “Bride and Prejudice” and “The Pink Panther 2.” She continues to be talented as well as bold, handling the media controversy over her weight after giving birth with professionalism and some bite when necessary. Whether she has ever striven to be a role model (or one of Time’s one hundred most influential people), she has accomplished that and more, all beginning at the end of a decade close to all our hearts.