This particular snap has been made immortal among many places - hair-cutting saloons, jewellery shops, notebooks, rear windows of public buses. This certainly is Aishwarya's one of the more popular snaps.

When she entered the  film industry a little after winning the Miss World title in November 1994 she was a cosmetic girl. Somehow she stuck out as being saccharine in the backdrop of mundane realism. Coming from the ramp (and she had had quite a long and fruitful tenure on the ramp) she had her own sense of dressing and makeup, which did not always go in consonance with directorial aim. The result was incongruence. The only saving grace was that you could forgive her by taking a look at that ethereal face. She made her debut in South Indian films which makes very crude variety of films (most of them, i.e.)- the films are very colourful, have many song and dance sequences which are even more colourful, almost always attended by a climactic fight sequence, and plots ranging from improbable to incredible to ridiculous. The emphasis in most of these films are on entertainment and the formula is readymade- include as many things as possible, and add as much cosmetic beauty as possible. Adding, thus, a very beautiful and famous heroine is a sure way to success. The films were hits in South India, but when the dubbed versions came to the North (the more populous part of India and the main consumers of Hindi films) they flopped. She always wore very very colourful clothes and her wardrobe was very outrageous in the context of the character portrayed. This tendency waned as she let the director become the boss. Her acting improved very appreciably, her wardrobe became more suitable, facial makeup was appropriate and she became what could be called finally, an actress. One of the problems with models in the film industry is that very few have had a success (Juhi Chawla was Miss India, alright, but she was not quite a model). Directors and producers make a rigid distinction between the ramp and the film stars. Part of the problem is due to the upmarket and elite image deliberately worn by the fashion people (of course the film and the fashion industry has separate clientele), which rendered then unsuitable for use in films which are mainly intended for the mainstream (and most would agree that the fashion industry, at least in India, is not for the mainstream). The makeup, dress and attitude of the models and film stars differed much- and in the event of a model joining the film industry, she has to make that much of an extra adjustment. Aishwarya thus failed miserably in her earlier films, where she was a model who acted in the film. Later she became an actress. She had her first success in Hum dil de chuke sanam (O Darling! I have given my heart away!), directed by Sanjay Leela Bansali. The film was released a little after the middle of 1999. And the film was a super hit. With one film she became an actress and that too the most wanted actress in the whole of Bollywood (The Bombay, now Mumbai, film industry, named after Hollywood. Bollywood- which produces the largest number of films in the world, much more than does Hollywood- makes Hindi language films only. Similarly the Bengali film industry based in Tollygunge, Calcutta, is called Tollywood). The film won accolades for her and numerous awards for both the director and the heroine. Next in line was a film by the big Bollywood director Subhas Ghai called Taal (The tune). This too was a very big hit, and her acting capabilities soared sky high. She became the number one heroine in Bollywood (One little bit of advice. If you want to know about Hindi film industry, read print or web publications of Indian sources only. Many of the facts and analyses about Bollywood by even prestigious foreign print houses are flawed and incredible. Be wary of what foreigners say about Indian film industry. Go to some good search engines, such as Lycos- www.lycos.com or Excite - www.excite.com , and search for "Bollywood"), and there were rumours that she was demanding unheard of contract money for her films. In the Indian film industry, the plots and characters are heavily in favour of men. Women have only very superfluous roles, and in most cases very cosmetic roles, and hence they get much less paid than the male actors. Aishwarya had some role in changing this. She demanded money which even many top actors had never asked for. And the even more incredible thing was that she got it. The main draw for a typical Hindi film is usually the hero. The advertising is done keeping this in mind. In a film poster, the largest picture is usually of the hero, and almost always he is placed in the centre. Aishwarya was always in centre in these two films (one big reason for this was that in both these film there were two heroes and only one heroine- the classic love-triangle). People in India usually come to see the hero; after a long time people came to watch mainly a heroine (the last such case was of the previous Bollywood biggie heroine Madhuri Dixit, who had left the numero uno position sometime back, and especially after her marriage- there was a very large vacuum which Aishwarya filled and very authoritatively), and this was a huge qualitative change of perspective. Her next films (Josh, summer 2000; Dhai akshar pyar ke, 2000; Hamara dil aapke paas hai, 2000) were comparative disappointments. From Hum dil de chuke sanam to Dhai akshar pya ke she has consistently done tear-jerker roles, so much so that she had been termed the crying-queen of India (although the terminology did not quite catch). Respite came in the form of Albela ( Unique, 2001 summer) where she had a role opposite the comedy king of India, Hero No. 1 Govinda. The film did reasonably well, but I think it did more good for her image, and now she escapes from being called stereotype (Interestingly, in this film she co-starred with another former Miss India, Namrata Shirodkar. In the film both are in love with the same guy- Govinda). Unfortunately nothing more came out in 2001, and some were totally surprised at how/why she was keeping a low profile. With 2002 one hopes to see her more often.

	Aur pyar ho gaya (Hindi, And I fell in love)
	Iddaru (Telegu)
	Iruvar (Tamil)
	Jeans (Hindi/Tamil)
	Aa ab laut chale (Hindi, Let us now go back)
	Aandam
	Hum panchi ek daal ke (unlereased, Hindi, We are birds of the same branch)
	Hum dil de chuke sanam (Hindi, Darling, I have given my heart away!)
	Taal (Hindi, Musical note)
	Josh (Hindi, Excitement/Passion/Vigour)
	Dhai akshar prem ke (Hindi, Two and a half letters of love)
	Hamara dil aapke paas hai (Hindi, My heart is with you)
	Mohabbatein (Hindi, Love stories)
	Albela (Hindi, Unique)
	Shaheed Bhagat Singh (Special appearance, 2002)
	Hum kisise kam nahi (2002)
	Devdas (2002)
	Dil ka Rishta (2003)