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The youngest child of Vrinda (a homemaker) and Krishnaraj Rai (a biologist in the Indian army), Aishwarya also has one older brother, Aditya, who is in the merchant navy, in her small nuclear family. The Rais were far removed from the glitz and glamour of Bollywood. In fact, their roots are in South India, in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka. She has been trilingual from childhood; proficient in English, Hindi and her mother-tongue, Tulu. Soon after she was born, in the late 1970s, her then merchant navy officer father was transferred to Mumbai.

As a result, both children studied in Mumbai. According to friends and family who knew her then, Aishwarya was a good student and showed a natural proclivity for classical Indian dance, whether traditional Bharatnatyam, Koli folk dance, or anything else for that matter.

In past interviews, she’s spoken at length about the importance of education, telling The Times of India, “I used to consistently be the first ranker in my class. Only once, when I was in the seventh standard, I stood third in my exams. This hit me really badly. I realised how important it was for me to be a topper and studied very hard for the final term and once again I stood first in all the divisions of my standard.”

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She attended Arya Vidya Mandir High School, did her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year, and finally attended DG Ruparel College in Matunga, landing herself in the top percentile after exam results were released. Unusually blue-eyed, it seems the legend of her good looks went before her, even in school. Contemporaries and professors recalled later that people would line up outside the college gates to catch a glimpse of the famously beautiful girl – perhaps it’s why she can take the adulation in her stride these days.

One of the women teaching photography at her college encouraged the teen to take a turn in front of the camera, and sure enough – long before social media and Instagram came into the frame – the pictures went viral. Her photos caught the eye of advertising filmmakers and notable Indian photographers Gautam Rajadhyaksha and Farrokh Chothia, who soon catapulted her from pretty girl-next-door to a face that launched a thousand campaigns.

At the same time as she was busy making waves in Mumbai, Rai would also make regular short trips down south for ad campaigns and cameos in movies. Hardcore fans know that before she began making Hindi films, she made appearances in a handful of regional language movies in Telugu and Tamil, and also did adverts in Malayalam and Tulu.

Friends encouraged her to join her first Miss India pageant in the early 90s. Initially reluctant, she finally relented on a whim and agreed. Legend has it that the popular Mumbai model sashayed into the pageant and 20 women dropped out immediately, fearing competition from “the most beautiful girl in the world”, a moniker she carried long before any pageant wins or major movie roles.

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Rai did indeed lead the competition, but in the final round, famously lost to Sushmita Sen, who went on to win Miss Universe. Rai may only have been runner-up, but she was clearly fated for more as she went on to win Miss World in 1994. Not only did she take the title with maximum points, but returned 20 years later to be awarded Most Successful Miss World in the pageant’s history by the organisers.

After Miss World and a return to India, Bollywood was the obvious next step – instead, Rai made a move in to the Tamil film industry to work with Madras Talkies maestro, director Mani Ratnam, on critically acclaimed Iruvar in 1997. Bollywood came soon after and a decade later, Hollywood.

Post marriage and motherhood, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan now has the luxury of cherry-picking her roles, ad campaigns and appearances: Ponniyin Selvan is likely to be an exciting return.

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