A brief re-cap of all things Aishwarya for the year 2003.
The first month of the year was a very busy month for our beauty queen. She was busy promoting her first home production "Dil Ka Rishta" with her co-star, Arjun Rampal. The movie, which was released on January 17th, didn't do so well in India but did good business overseas. Aishwarya was also busy shooting for her first Bengali movie, "Chokher Bali" in Calcutta. Due to the constant traveling to cities with varying weather conditions, our angel became sick with the flu. At the end of January, Aishwarya traveled to Singapore for the MTV Asia Awards 2003 where she was a presenter for Best Male Musician. After a quick stopover in Malaysia to film a sequence for her forthcoming film “Kuch Naa Kaho,” she flew to the USA to meet up with her Hollywood agents.
Ms. Rai spent the beginning of this month in Los Angeles in meetings with her Hollywood agents, William Morris and also reviewed some scripts there as well. At this time rumors surfaced about a relationship with Bollywood heartthrob Vivek Oberoi. Aishwarya also began to shoot for “Kyun? Ho Gaya Na,” co-starring Vivek Oberoi and Amitabh Bachchan. Aishwarya continued to shoot for "Chokher Bali." She attended several award ceremonies, performed and picked up ALL the awards for BEST ACTRESS.
Rumors about her starring in the next Sanjay Leela Bhansali epic “Bajirao Mastani” with Salman Khan start making the rounds. The shooting of "Chokher Bali" ended. Aishwarya continued to shoot for KHGN and began shooting for Raj Kumar Santoshi's “Khakee” co-starring Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, and Amitabh Bachchan.
Aishwarya did her last performance at the year's last awards ceremony: Sansui Viewer's Choice Awards and picked up the award for Best Actress.
This month, the fans of Rai saw their worst fear come to fruition! On April 2nd, at 5:35 PM, while shooting for "Khakee" in Nasik, the delicate angel succumbed to a near fatal accident, after being hit by an out of control vehicle on the sets. She sustained injuries to her arms, back and fractured her ankle. Her injuries caused her to reside in Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital for more than a week. Her good friend Vivek Oberoi kept a vigil at her bedside.
At this time rumors are wild about Ash being cast as the next Bond girl, as well as in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next with Salman Khan. She released a press statement saying in no terms will she ever work with Mr. Salman Khan again.
After being released from the hospital, she rested in her family apartment located in Bandra. Her first public appearance since her accident came at the launch of the Ash’s Choice Diamond Collection by Nakshatra. Due to the fact that she was still recuperating from her injuries she was brought out on a wheelchair but still managed to put on a brave face.
HOLLYWOOD WATCH OUT! Ms. Rai attended the Cannes Film Festival 2003 in France for the second year in a row but this time, she was not there as an actress representing her movie but instead was invited as a festival judge, joining the likes of Meg Ryan. At the festival she met with such Hollywood bigwigs like Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein, Robert De Niro and Spike Lee. There is also pre-publicity for Aishwarya’s first crossover film, Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride and Prejudice.”
After the festival, she resumed shooting for KHGN. The rumors of an intimate relationship with her KHGN costar Vivek Oberoi continue.
Due to the publicity of “Bride and Prejudice,” coverage of Ash in the western world began.
Ms. Rai went to Wales to continue shooting for KHGN. There she engaged in stunts such as sky diving, dirt biking, etc. for the movie. The Rai-Oberoi rumors reach a fevered peak as stories surface from the sets of KHGN of the coziness between the two costars.
Aishwarya started shooting for “Bride and Prejudice” in London amidst great secrecy. Rumors of Rai-Oberoi relationship continue.
Vivek Oberoi suffered a severe leg injury on the movie sets. The press waited anxiously to see if Aishwarya would make an appearance at his bedside as he did when she suffered her injuries. Due to contractual obligations with Gurinder Chadha, she was unable to instantly rush to Mumbai but finally she came to Mumbai from London for the weekend and visited Vivek at the Hinduja Hospital and spent a marathon 8 hours at his side. She left the hospital at 3am. The relationship rumors between the two were now at an all time high.
Aishwarya then returned to London to continue shooting for “Bride and Prejudice.” During the shooting of the film she received every other weekend off and she jetted to Switzerland during one of these off-weekends to attend the Locarno Film Festival which was showcasing her film “Chokher Bali.”
Shooting of “Bride and Prejudice” wrapped up in London. The next shooting schedule was said to be in India. “Kuch Naa Kaho,” co-starring the junior Bachchan was released. The first week’s collections were impressive but overall the film did average work.
“Chokher Bali” did heavy rotation at Toronto Film Festival and was invited to Chicago Film Festival and the London Film Festival as well. The audiences agreed that in “Chokher Bali,” Aishwarya gave her best performance till date.
Aishwarya was featured in the October 2nd issue of Rolling Stone Magazine under the title, “Hot International Babe.” She is said to be the “hottest thing since chicken tikka.”
Shooting commenced in Amritsar for “Bride and Prejudice.” The director, Gurinder Chadha was unsure for Ash’s safety on the sets due to the mass hysteria that follows her everywhere she goes. Eventually though Aishwarya arrived in Amritsar on a private plane with ample security in tow. Filming progressed well and a press conference was held in Amritsar with the director and her stars. Filming wrapped in Amritsar at the end of the first week of October and Ash returned to Mumbai. It was announced that the final shooting for “Bride and Prejudice” would occur in Los Angeles.
“Chokher Bali” was released in Bengal and the audience and critics responses were tremendous, praising Aishwarya’s performance. The film does superb business and the director Rituparno Ghosh underwent negotiations to release the film to the Hindi audiences. Two big American studios compete with each other for the North American rights of “Chokher Bali.” It was announced that “Khakee” will be released on November 28, 2003. The first promos aired showed Aishwarya in her first ever onscreen pairing with Akshay Kumar.
“Chokher Bali” premiered at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2003). The stars went to Delhi for its premiere and sat down for a press conference as well.
It was announced that Aishwarya would replace Kareena Kapoor in Rituparno Ghosh’s yet untitled Hindi venture co-starring Ajay Devgan. This would be the pair’s third appearance together since “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” and “Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.”
Aishwaya appeared as the cover girl on Time Magazine’s Asian Edition, which touted her as Bollywood’s reining queen, and in the magazine it was revealed that Aishwarya’s first Hollywood role would be opposite the great actress Meryl Streep in French director Coline Serreau’s “Chaos.” Aishwarya’s role in “Chaos” would be that of a battered prostitute who is taken in by Meryl Streep’s character. In another casting coup, the magazine also revealed that Aishwarya would feature in Mira Nair’s next venture “Homebody/Kabul.” Mira Nair has directed such films as “Monsoon Wedding” and “Mississippi Massala.”
Sequences of "Bride and Prejudice" were shot in Goa and then filming moved to South Mumbai’s Mukesh Mills. Aishwarya also attended Mumbai Police's Diwali Mela 2003 where the music of "Khakee" was launched.
With her birthday rounding the corner, Ash is firing at full blast. Great going Ash!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aishwarya celebrated her 30th birthday on November 1st. On her special day she visited a Home for the Elderly and took up the cause to help eradicate Polio from the children in India. The day was made more special by the fact that it was rumored that Ash's good friend, Vivek Oberoi, gifted her 30 presents for her birthday, each symbolizing one year of her life.
During the first week of the month, Ash was in Khandala shooting the song sequence "Dil Dooba" with Akshay Kumar for the film "Khakee." She then returned to Mumbai for a press conference marking the premiere of "Chokher Bali" in Mumbai.
Ash then left India for Los Angeles to finish the last shooting spell for Gurinder Chadha's "Bride and Prejudice." While in LA, it was announced that Aishwarya had opted out of the film "The Rising," due to disagreements over her renumeration.
At the end of the month, Aishwarya was in Boston to promote the Longines line of wristwatches. Hundreds of fans bombarded the mall, resulting in the organizers calling an early end to her promotional appearance, much to the dismay of fans as well as Ash who wanted to remain and sign more autographs.
"Bride and Prejudice," Aishwarya's first international film entered into post-production.
Aishwarya returned to India to complete the final filming of "Kyon? Ho Gaya Na" costarring Vivek Oberoi and Amitabh Bachchan, in Coorg.
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