Aishwarya Rai shows off her new blunt bangs on Vogue India: hot or awful?

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Aishwarya Rai, or Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, covers the new issue of Vogue India. I’ve written about the lovely Aishwarya before – she’s sort of the Angelina Jolie of Bollywood, she’s been called one of the most beautiful women in the world, and she’s married to an equally famous Bollywood actor named Abhishek Bachchan. They had a baby girl in 2011, and Aishwarya was criticized for not losing the “baby weight” fast enough, because people are mean and stupid.

I wanted to cover this because… BANGS. Aishwarya “went away” for several years during and after her pregnancy, only making some paid appearances in Cannes on behalf of her beauty-campaign contracts. This Vogue India cover marks a “comeback” of sorts. She’s 41 years old and ready to work again. And so we’re seeing a whole new Aishwarya. With BANGS. She’s still a beautiful woman, of course, but these bangs do absolutely nothing for her. She has a round face, and the bangs make her face look even rounder.

As for Aish’s big “comeback,” this is what she has to say about it with Vogue India:

Comeback? What a strange word. Comebacks are for people who cashed in their cheques, switched off the bright lights, retired to the Bahamas, and then sheepishly snuck back in realising they still had a little gas in the tank for one more. Why, she never went away. “Yes, there was a maternity leave, just like any other working woman—in fact, I was working right up to my sixth month, with my various product endorsements and other stuff. There were no movies, obviously,” she says.

There were no movies, no, but we do remember seeing that exquisite partum glow on her cheeks as she tossed her hair for L’Oreal. “Yes, and the UNAIDS work carried on as well. They had approached me way back in 2001, and I had declined it then; there was too much going on at the time for me to do justice to it. I wanted to be more than just a pretty face issuing PSAs; I wanted to be hands on. Almost 12 years later, this seemed like the perfect time. Then there were the endless meetings to ideate new things, future movie roles, more and more brands…” she smiles, as if to reiterate, “What comeback?”

[From Vogue India]

I wonder if she will still have a thriving acting career now. Now that she’s a mother, now that she’s over 40, now that Bollywood changes by the moment. I have no doubt she will still work, but it might not be in Indian films. She will still launch beauty campaigns, she will still be invited to Cannes, she will still get lots of modeling contracts. But let’s see how her comeback plays out. In the meantime… NO MORE BANGS.

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Photos courtesy of Marc Hom/Vogue India.

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30 Responses to “Aishwarya Rai shows off her new blunt bangs on Vogue India: hot or awful?”

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  1. word says:

    I saw this photo the other day and didn’t even realize it was her at first. It’s a different look for her, that’s for sure. I like the red dress pic much better than the cover shot. Also, in Bollywood, once a woman reaches her mid 30’s she’s cast as a frickin’ grandmother ! SRK is well over 40 and he’s still playing lead roles along side 20 year old women. It’s really not fair. I can see her getting roles, but she will not be the main “heroine”. You know how brutal Bollywood is.

    • Indira says:

      Oh God, I need him to go away. Ranveer Singh needs more work, though. Sigh. He’s so hot (with the scruff. Without it he looks COMPLETELY different)

      • me says:

        Have you seen SRK’s son? He’s a spitting image of his father. I like SRK, he’s one of my favs but at this point he should be playing roles a long side women close to his own age instead of girls who are almost the same age as his own daughter ! I think SRK wants his son to become an actor. I can see it happening. Ranveer isn’t getting much work. There is a lot of nepotism in Bollywood as well. That’s how Ash’s hubby gets work lol.

      • **sighs** says:

        That dude is hot regardless of hair.

    • oneshot says:

      the fact that she even kept working as a heroine into her mid-late 30s is a miracle, usually Bollywood shelves heroines the minute they hit 30 (or 32, if we’re pushing it and they’re super successful before).

      and to be quite honest her top star status came about more because of her looks than anything else, she has a lot of clout even now but it stands to reason that if her looks fade, her status will too.

  2. Tiffany says:

    That woman can wear garbage on the top of her head and still be beautiful. Absolutely stunning.

  3. QQ says:

    She is still looking GORGEOUS, This is not even nearly a Bang Trauma

  4. Indira says:

    She will. She’s once of the most well-loved and respected actresses, I doubt age or motherhood will do anything to hamper that. But then who knows, there have been two waves of young Bollywood actors since she took her break, so we’ll just wait and see.

  5. Cait says:

    Yeah, I don’t hate the bangs on her.

  6. Birdie says:

    I thought it was Vanessa Paradis at first.

  7. Yeses says:

    I find they take away from her eyes….the bangs aren’t bad but they take away from her absolutely beautiful eyes, which I feel are her best feature.

    Just like with Madhuri Dixit, am thinking Bollywood will sideline her, she might get meaty roles..but as a heroine…I doubt it…but that’s just how the film industry is…65 year old actors can act with 25 year old actresses but not vice versa.

  8. FKA Pri says:

    She will continue to get movies, though not as many, and not the very best ones that I believe she could do justice to. Just before she had Aradhya she had done some terrible movies. And mostly the problem was that the films itself weren’t good, no real story. She wasn’t getting offered good projects.

    And she doesn’t have that much effect on the Indian audiences as much people believe. She was at the top at one point in time. Not anymore.

  9. Shelley says:

    She is no longer the raving beauty she was before. Not that she’s ugly now….but…ummm…those bangs do her no favours.
    On a side note…how does planning what future movies you’ll be acting in and brands you’ll be representing constitutes work? #CelebrityProblems

    • Ange says:

      I agree and it’s kind of sad how much having a child did a number on her. She has aged significantly, even though she’s still beautiful of course.

  10. **sighs** says:

    She is soooooooo beautiful but those bangs! Nooooooo! Just, no. No.

  11. Lori says:

    I like Bangs. I don’t see the problem. Also…………I have bangs.

    • oneshot says:

      I have bangs and a round face and even I can recognise that not all women need to have them – especially her, she doesn’t need anything covering up any part of her face. I hope for her sake that was one of those fake clip-in bangs.

  12. oneshot says:

    yeah she’ll still get lots of modelling work and public interest in her life (I feel bad for her daughter, because you know people will compare the kid to her ma, and that’s tough on any kid let alone one whose mother is an iconic beauty in their country).

    and yes, the bangs are hideous in the cover pic. You can have a round face and wear bangs,but her hair is styled all wrong for it and it does the opposite of what bangs are supposed to do i.e. emphasise your eyes.

  13. Gobo says:

    I dunno. I kinda like the bags. Gives her a bit of a Monica Belucci look.

  14. Crocuta says:

    Aishwarya is my lady crush ever since she won miss world (although at that point I wasn’t rooting for her, hehe). Never seen anything of her Bolywood work, tho, I don’t like that genre. But oh my she is perfect. Even with bangs and I don’t usually like those.

  15. Rave says:

    Absolutely stunning! Those bangs gives her an edgy look….much better than typical Bollywood clones!

  16. Ari says:

    good lord shes gorgeous

  17. TessD says:

    Definitely gorgeous!

  18. Nikki says:

    As Kaiser seems to hate ALL bangs, I was prepared to like them fine, but oh dear, no. Never before have seen bangs make such a negative difference, maybe because her eyes aren’t featured as much.. She looked so gorgeous, and now looks simply pretty. Voting against the bangs..

  19. Veronica says:

    Not sure how I feel about the bangs, but god she is beautiful.

  20. Mandy says:

    She’s no Angelina Jolie. She’s considered beautiful but in India she doesn’t have a mass following and is disliked for her cold nature and fake persona. Also her hubby is not even close to one of the top actors. He hasn’t had a hit in a lead role in forever and most of his movies are canned by critics and the audience alike. His father is one of India’s top actors but he is just a top actor’s som. This whole hype of her is more in International media than in India.