NAME: Aishwarya Rai

AGE: 30

NATIONALITY: Indian

CLAIM TO FAME: The Bollywood queen who’s going places

WITH a lethal combination of beauty, brains and tons of talent, Aishwarya Rai has conquered the world. First she wins the Miss World title, then she proves herself as an actress to become the queen of Bollywood — going on to win a number of best actress awards — then she graces the cover of Time. And now, she is going to Hollywood with her latest flick Bride and Prejudice. Oops, and before I forget — she’s set to visit us some time later this month!

This stunner from Karnataka is the first and one of the few beauty queens to have shaped a successful career, particularly in acting, after completing her yearlong reign as the most beautiful woman. Her latest movie, Bride and Prejudice, a Hollywood production, premiered in London on Monday last with much fanfare and rave reviews. An adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice, this movie has a modern twist to it and is termed as a British-Asian movie that is set in India, England and America.

Like the novel, the film shows a lower middle-class family’s attempts to marry off its daughters to men of higher social standing. Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett becomes Lalita Bakshi (Rai) and Mr. Darcy is played by LA based, New Zealand actor Martin Henderson (The Ring).

The movie opens in the US on Christmas Day and is directed by Gurinder Chandha, responsible for the surprise hit Bend It Like Beckham. The movie’s Hindi version is called Balle Balle! Amritsar To L.A. Aishwarya has also bagged a parallel role opposite Meryl Streep in French director Coline Serreau’s Chaos and was a judge at Cannes this year. Ash has been taking time out from her busy schedule to work for different causes as well and knows that her high profile status make a lot of impact on the masses.

At the end of the month she is reportedly coming to Pakistan as a goodwill ambassador to raise funds for a campaign against breast cancer. During the two-day visit, Ash is bound to be very busy as she is as popular here as she is back home. Since relations between Pakistan and India have taken a positive direction, we’ve had many Indian stars coming over here and getting a warm welcome.

Come to think of it, each time some Indian movie star comes over, there is so much hungama over here but does anyone even notice our Lollywood stars when they go over there?

This green-blue eyed beauty has also been an active campaigner for cornea donation and has willed her bewitching eyes to be donated after her demise. Ash had a much publicized affair with Salman Khan which ended after two years, like other earlier affairs of Salman, who woman find highly irresistible but who is commitment shy. However, the pro that she is, Ash has not let her personal traumas come in the way of her professional success. One after the other, she has been giving memorable performances and has taken over from Madhuri Dixit as the No. 1 heroine of Bollywood. And she’s set to conquer Hollywood too! — Arshad Kamal