Dance director's dream: Aishwarya Rai: Every Choreographer should be so lucky

Dance director's dream: Aishwarya Rai: Every Choreographer should be so lucky to have Aishwarya Rai interpret their moves with her natural grace and elegance. 

Aishwarya Rai on the sets of Taal with choreographer Saroj Khan and Shiamak Davar. 

Rekha in the 1970s: Forever Fashion Icon

 

Vyjanthimala

 

Raakhee

 

Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai, 21, returns to India after winning her Miss World crown.

A profile in perfection; Ash 
 

 

TBT to October 1992: Madhuri Dixit in a blonde wig

TBT: Madhuri Dixit, 25, in a blonde wig. Right... there is a history of Bollywood's leading ladies wearing bad, cheap wigs on film. This just adds to the list. Don't be fooled by the perfection of the makeup (Mickey Contractor), the soft lens photographer (the late great Gautam Rajadhyaksha!) and that famous smile of la Dixit. This is an awful wig... 

Filmfare, October 1992. 

Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan in Silsila

Silsila; adultery never looked so good - or as poetic. An eternal favourite film - except for that rushed ending... But then what would have been a satisfying end? 

 

Bhanupriya in white: Jeetendra looking for a Sridevi replacement

Bhanupriya in white: Jeetendra looking for a Sridevi replacement 

Parveen Babi: Fashion Icon

The true rebel of Bollywood; Parveen Babi. A true fashion icon 
 

Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Khanna in Taal (1999)

Released on Sridevi's birthday (August 13, 1999!), Taal was just a blockbuster from the word go; the music, the cast, the direction before Ghai lost his mind... 

The album is FLAWLESS! AR Rehman.... the Mozart of Madras indeed... 
 

Saadhana: Fashion Icon of Indian Cinema

 

Rani Mukherjee

 

Aishwarya Rai

 

Perfection is... Rekha in Silsila

 Perfection is... Rekha in Silsila 

Her jawline cuts glass: Miss World Aishwarya Rai

Her jawline cuts glass: Miss World Aishwarya Rai 

The profile of all profiles! 

 

Simple and stunning: Aishwarya Rai in 23rd March 1931: Shaheed

 Simple and stunning: Aishwarya Rai in 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002)

Young Aishwarya Rai

 Hoops, ponytail, and black-T, gorgeous Aishwarya Rai. Anyone remember which film this is from? 

Purple Reign: Aishwarya Rai

 There have been gorgeous models in India, and then there's been the absolute reign of Aishwarya Rai. 

Aishwarya Rai: TBT to 2000

From a cover shoot for Filmfare back in 2000. 

 

Aishwarya Rai in Josh

De-glamourised and gorgeous Aishwarya Rai in one of the first few films she signed, Josh. 

Though the film released in 2000, Josh was in production for long. The stars were not all aligned and the stress of its production made the wildly gifted Mansoor Khan stop making movies altogether. Alas it is our -- the audience's -- loss entirely. 

A simply marvelous story re-teller, Khan's movies have been Indianised variations of familiar plots of British classics and American movies. QSQT (1988) is essentially a modernised and Indianised Romeo and Juliet, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) is loosely based on the American film Breaking Away (1979), Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995) is based on Kramer Vs Kramer (although the film poster is a direct lift of Sleepless in Seattle!) and Josh (2000) is essentially West Side Story (1961) shot in Goa! 

Note we don't say copied but based on as Khan's presentation and pacing is so different from the Western counterparts. You never get the feel of deja-vu or groan that its a 'gandy copy' of something we are all too familiar of. 

We sincerely wish Khan would make another movie. Four films in 37 years (as we go to publish!), prolific he's definitely not... 

Aishwarya Rai in Sarkar Raj (2008)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 34. in Sarkar Raj (2008). 

A confident performance by the beautiful actress, one of the few that featured a mostly family cast led by Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek and by then married Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan. 

Everyone performed well, even under the shadow of the mighty Big B.