Aishwarya Rai - in The Media

In The Media

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has become one of the most admired and revered women in India, and in the world. Mass media has described her as dignified, statuesque, beautiful and charismatic person. Despite constant media speculation, she has always managed to keep her personal life well-guarded. Her beauty and performances have made her as a style icon for young women. Over 17,000 websites dedicated to her, she was selected by Verve Magazine in its list of the country's most powerful women. In 2001 Forbes named Rai among the top five Indian movie stars. In a reader poll conducted by UK's Hello! magazine, she was voted "the most attractive woman of 2003". In the same year, Rai appeared in Rolling Stone magazine's annual "Hot List". In 2004 she was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the world's most influential people, and appeared on the cover of its 2003 Asia edition. In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum. She was the sixth Indian and the second Bollywood personality—after her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan—to get this honour. In 2007 the same figure was displayed at Madame Tussaud's Museum in Times Square in New York.

As her most distinctive physical features, Rai's green-blue eyes, luscious lips, sexy curves and ultra-feminine mannerisms have been cited by the media as her trademark. In 2005 she was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on 2 January, which said that "at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts", she was "the world's most beautiful woman". The same year, a tulip in the Netherlands was named "Aishwarya Rai" after her. Also in 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the United Kingdom. The British magazine Maxim ranked Rai first on their list of "Hottest Women of India". Rai appeared on such shows as Late Show with David Letterman, and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. In 2005 Harpers and Queen's list of "Most Beautiful Women in The World" ranked her ninth. In May 2006 Aishwarya was featured in People Magazine as one of the "World's Most Beautiful People". The UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her third in the list of "Asia's Sexiest Women" in 2006, and she was ranked eighth in 2009. In 2008 American television channel E!: Entertainment listed Aishwarya's eyes as the sexiest on their Sexiest Body Parts list. In 2009 she made appearances on Martha Stewart's show Martha and on the The Tyra Banks Show. In the same year Forbes listed Rai at 387th out of 1,411 actors on their list of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. She is the highest-ranked Indian actor on the list. In 2009 a poll conducted by the newspaper Daily News and Analysis, she was voted as one of India's most popular icons. She attended the 83rd Academy Awards, along with her husband, Abhishek. Rai with her husband Abhishek Bachchan appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on 28 September 2009. She is the first Indian celebrity who appeared in The Oprah Winfrey Show twice. They have been described as a supercouple in the Indian media She ranked 2nd in The Times of India's 50 most desirable women of 2010, and ranked 9th for 2011. In 2011, she has received a lot of negative publicity for failing to lose her post-pregnancy weight as is apparently "required" of a public figure. However she silenced her critics by walking the red carpet at the "AmfAR Cinema Against Aids" gala in 2012 Cannes Film Festival for the 11th time. Later that year, Rai has made it to the issue of New York Magazine’s list of “Forty Women That Women Find Beautiful”, where she grabbed the 21st position in the list, with New York Magazine saying “She may be the “world’s most beautiful woman,” but what we really love is that she never feels fragile onscreen,”