Her
growing years ...
Born on Nov 1, 1974
in Mangalore, Karnataka, Ash was the younger of two children. Her father was
in the Merchant Navy, and the family moved to Mumbai, where she studied at
Arya Vidya Mandir, in Santa Cruz. As a young girl, she would accompany her
mother on vegetable shopping expeditions and loved to haggle with the vendors.
She studied classical
music and dance for several years. She was a bright student, and loved Zoology,
aiming to study medicine after school. Securing the eighth rank in her tenth
standard exams was a major disappointment for Ash: she had set her sights
on the top three ranks.
College
education ...She chose Science
at DG Ruparel College in Mumbai, and scored an amazing 90 per cent in three
subjects. She then got admission into the Architecture course in Raheja College,
but modelling called and she decided to pursue this calling.
The
"girl next door" image ...
Known to the world
as a beauty queen and Bollywood actress, Aishwarya Rai at heart is no different
from the girl next door, or so she would have you believe. She loves sleeping,
hates cockroaches, is self-reliant, believes in God, loves the color Black,
the movie Casablanca, Coke and simple food. Yet this apparently "ordinary"
woman, set millions of hearts on fire and won a huge fan following when she
won the coveted Miss World award in 1994.
Modelling
...
Her modelling career
got off to an early start with a campaign for Camlin while she was in the
ninth standard. She has modelled for a number of products since, from Lakme
to Pepsi, to Palmolive and even Casio pagers. From modelling, acting was just
a step away.
Movies
...
Her accomplishments
as a beauty queen followed by her career in acting have inevitably brought
Ash into the spotlight, with lots of media attention being focused on her.
Her movies till date include: Aur Pyar Ho Gaya, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Taal
and Josh in Hindi, and Iruvar, Jeans and Kandukondain Kandukondain in Tamil.
Romance
...Though she has been
romantically linked by the media with co-star Salman Khan, and more recently
with software entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia (the founder of Hotmail, the free
email service on the Internet), she denies all such rumours and claims that
she is only concentrating on her career.
Memorable
event ...The person behind
the supermodel remains essentially simple and fun-loving. In her glamorous
modelling and acting career, she remembers sentimental and humorous incidents,
nostalgically. One event she has spoken about in interviews is her 21st birthday,
which was during the course of the Miss World contest.
Though other contestants'
birthdays had been celebrated together, when her big day came, no one seemed
to notice. She talks of disappointment and distraction - until a surprise
party is sprung on her and she is swept away by the warmth and best wishes
of all her friends.
Social
Issues ...Aishwarya was seriously
concerned with social issues and made best use of her role as an ambassador
of women's issues in the year that followed her winning the Miss World crown.
Yet, she says, she never let the glamour and luxury go to her head. She knew
and was always aware that it would last for only a year, and afterwards she
would have to go back to her own life and follow her own dreams.
Yet it speaks volumes
of her caring and genuinely selfless nature, that she voluntarily donated
her eyes, and was involved in a campaign to create awareness about organ donation.