Aishwarya brought in the new year in the company of her family and good friend Vivek Oberoi and his family. The pair were in Coorg shooting for Kyun? Ho Gaya Na until around the 8th.
In January, Aishwarya attended the Hero Honda Star Screen Awards and the Stardust Awards.
The 23rd saw the release of Rajkumar Santoshi's cop drama, Khakee. The film saw Aishwarya alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and Tusshar Kapoor. This also marked Ash's first time playing a villain.
On January 28th, Ash attended Amar Singh's birthday party at Hotel Ashok’s Convention Hall in New Delhi.
February 9th saw the release of Devdas on triple DVD, featuring the original film, a disc of extras, and, for the first time ever, the film dubbed into English.
Subhash Ghai held a party for the completion of the first stint of his film Kisna at Vie, Juhu. Aishwarya was present in the company of "good friend" Vivek Oberoi and the two made it clear that things were more than just "good." That same night Aishwarya met up with Manisha Koirala, a supposed "foe" and they buried the hatchet so to speak.
"Maqbool" director Vishal Bharadwaj announced that he was in talks with Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai for his project titled "Timbuktu."
On February 10th and 14th Aishwarya was at the Sahara compound in Lucknow to attend the weddings of the sons of Subrato Roy. Aishwarya finished up the last filming schedule for Kyun? Ho Gaya Na then jetted off for the proceedings.
Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan travelled to Kolkata to shoot for Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat. Around the same time, the first promo for Bride & Prejudice was released in London and began to generate considerable curiousity for the film.
It was announced that Aishwarya's new Coke advert would feature her alongside Vivek Oberoi. As well, Ash was one of over 18 women conferred with the "Women Awards 2004" at a glittering function in Mumbai.
On the 4th March, Aishwarya launched the Times Food Guide book in Mumbai. On the 10th, a sessions court extended till March 22 its stay on a magistrate's order issuing summons to the Aishwarya and her family members to appear in a cheating case filed by a real estate agent for non-payment of brokerage towards purchase of a property.
On March 13th, Aishwarya was a guest speaker at the India Today Conclave. She spoke out about the media's responsibility. She also urged fellow women to "recognise the power and potential to the fullest and not allow themselves to be exploited."
In an interview to Movie Magazine, director, Rajkumar Santoshi confirmed Aishwarya for his Prithviraj Samjukta. Another director, Tanuja Chandra, confirmed that she was in talks with Aishwarya to star in a a film based on a true story about a girl who did extra-ordinary things at the Gujarat border during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
On the 15th, newspapers printed that Aishwarya was replaced by 6 photographers for Fuji Film's campaign. Aishwarya clarified noting that her contract had expired almost a year ago.
Aishwarya became the brand ambassador for the international services of Sahara Airlines.
Roland Joffe’s period film The Invaders was retitled Singularity and Aishwarya was listed as the only confirmed lead for the time being.
Aishwarya was listed as the 9th most powerful person in Bollywood by MansWorldIndia Magazine.
It was revealed that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aishwarya had patched up and reconciled their differences.
On the 29th a judge dismissed a cheating case that had been brought against the Rai family for failure to pay brokerage fees.
Also on the 29th, it was officially announced that Aishwarya would feature in PNC's Shabd. The lady however was unavailable for comment since she was in Namibia for the shooting of her newest Nakshatra advert.
