At last year’s Cannes film Festival, Aishwarya Rai rode into town on a storm of controversy. Rai gave birth to a daughter, Aaradhya, in November 2011 and by the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Rai hadn’t lost the baby weight. So the Indian papers went crazy calling her “fat” and saying that she was letting down her country by not keeping it tight or whatever. It was very depressing, and Rai did stay pretty covered-up throughout the CFF last year.

Well, she came back this year because she’s still a L’Oreal brand ambassador and because Cannes is celebrating 100 years of Bollywood. And guess what? Aishwarya lost the baby weight. She wore Elie Saab on the red carpet for Inside Llewyn Davis last night, and she looked gorgeous. Can this be over now? Can we stop talking about her weight now? I think the Indian media didn’t really know how to handle it last year – their celebrity gossip culture was and is very possessive of “their” stars, and it seemed to really bother people that one of their brightest stars didn’t look perfectly camera-ready. I hope Aishwarya didn’t take any of the criticism to heart.

I’m also including some pics of Rai with her little girl, who is probably… what? About a year-and-a-half old. Indian babies!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Aishwarya Rai is a goddess! These are new photos of Aish at the United Nations “Every Woman Every Child” Dinner last night in NYC. The United Nations opening has drawn so many world leaders and international activists to New York this year – they’re also in town for the Clinton Global Initiative too, by the way. Anyway, we haven’t talked about Aish since May, when Indian critics and bloggers went f—king crazy criticizing Aish for not losing her postpartum baby weight soon enough. There were some in India who felt that Aishwarya was “letting her people down” by not getting back to her old figure soon enough. Rai appeared at the Cannes Film Festival one week later, and she still looked magnificent, so I don’t get why this whole thing was such a BFD.

As you can see in these photos, Rai is still gorgeous, and she still a voluptuous woman. That’s all I really have to say – she looks great. I wouldn’t mind if she changed up her style a bit, but maybe she feels like she has to wear more traditional Indian clothing when she’s overseas, like she’s a representative of Indian style. Rai was at the dinner last night because she’s just been named the newest international goodwill ambassador to UNAIDS:

The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as its International Goodwill Ambassador. She will raise global awareness on protecting children from HIV infection and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment.

The appointment came a day before the start of the annual debate at the UN General Assembly. Aishwarya has been involved in humanitarian issues for many years and will now have a special focus on HIV/AIDS, Xinhua reported. At a press conference Monday, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe welcomed Aishwarya to the UNAIDS family.

“Mrs. Rai Bachchan is respected and admired by millions of people around the world,” Sidibe said. “I am convinced that through her global outreach, Mrs. Rai Bachchan can help UNAIDS reach its goal of eliminating new HIV infections among children by 2015.”
Speaking on this occasion, Aishwarya said: “I am honoured to accept this appointment. Spreading awareness on health issues, especially related to women and children, has always been a priority for me,” she said. “And now, as a new mother, I can personally relate to this — the joys and concerns of every mother and the hopes that we have for our children.”

“I strongly believe that every baby should be born free from HIV. And I wish that every woman living with HIV stays healthy and has access to treatment. I promise that with UNAIDS, I will do my utmost to make this happen,” she added.

Aishwarya worked as a model before starting her acting career, and won the Miss World pageant in 1994. She has starred in films in various languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali.

[From The NYDN India]

Good for her. Do you know what’s always bothered me about the UN, NGO and American efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in developing nations? They put most of the focus on treating HIV/AIDS rather than prevention. There’s not enough money going to prevention, because putting money into prevention means putting money into condoms and sex education and preventive reproductive health care for women, and the men who control the purse strings don’t want to do that.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I knew that Kristen Stewart would at least show up for Robert Pattinson‘s big Cannes premiere of Cosmopolis, but she did more than just turn up and do her infamous eye roll. Kristen probably looks better here than I’ve ever seen her look before! She donned a red Reem Acra gown and looks unbelievably sexy here. In fact, Kaiser and I have both been sitting here and admiring how perky her boobs are in this dress. Did you even realize that KStew had boobs before she wore this dress? Probably not.

Bright red lipstick and glammed up hair and minimal accessories really set off the whole package, and while Kaiser doesn’t really like the lace detail on the sides and back, I do for very unexplained reasons.

But KStew didn’t walk the red carpet alone. Her escort was Tom Sturridge, also known as Rob’s BFF and Sienna Miller’s baby daddy. I guess Tom makes a good enough escort despite the scrunchie. God, I wish he’d just cut that thing off.

Kristen looked so good at this premiere that I almost forgot that she didn’t even star within the movie. So let’s check on Rob and his co-stars, shall we?

Sarah Gadon wore a strapless, royal blue Jason Wu dress with a black waistband. It was kind of meh, but so is Sarah. As for Rob, he pulled some excellent faces on his way into the theater.

Of course, there were lots of other gorgeous ladies on the red carpet, and several of them gave Kristen a run for her proverbial money by wearing red dresses as well. Some were more appropriate than … others.

Natasha Poly probably thought she was bringing it in this trashy-looking scarlet cutout dress, but she looked like she was begging for attention. Did she realize that the leading man’s girlfriend would also be wearing a sexy red gown? Probably not, but Natasha overdid it in a big way here.

In contrast, Beatrice Rose did better in red than Natasha did. She made a statement but didn’t go overboard.

Julianna Margulies didn’t look like a showoff at all in red in this Reed Krakoff color-block dress. Even with a strapless gown, Julianna manages to somehow look demure.

Next came a sea of greens and blues for several other ladies in attendance.

Doutzen Kroes wore this slightly ugly sequined Elie Saab gown with a black waistband. Her purposely messy hair and flawless makeup redeemed her look somewhat.

Lily Donaldson looked really cute in this green number. She’s an effortless beauty.

Finally, we have Aishwarya Rai in a midnight blue, embroidered Elie Saab couture gown. She is pure class and looked amazing.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

One of the biggest headlines to come out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival amfAR gala is the international debut of Aishwarya Rai’s postpartum figure. And that kind of sucks. As we discussed last week, Rai was facing increased criticism in India for not losing her pregnancy weight fast enough. The discussion became an international gossip subject after Indian papers published a recent photo of Rai with a double chin (gasp!). Anyway, the overwhelming majority of people felt like “For the love of God, leave the poor woman alone!!” And after all of that, Aishwarya still came to Cannes and… Lord, this woman is gorgeous. Look at that face. The dress/sari/Mandarin-jacket ensemble is by Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. I don’t mind that she went for a more traditional, conservative look, but I would have loved to see her in just a straight-up silk sari in a beautiful jewel tone. Still, I don’t even see what the fuss is all about with her figure – she only looks slightly heavier than she did last year. What’s the BFD?

Georgina Chapman in her own Marchesa design. TRAINWRECK. Good God, does she not see how awful and budget her own designs are while she wears them?

Gerard Butler looks slim and soberish. I wonder if he boned anyone in the bathroom?

Julianna Margulies in L’Wren Scott. Elegant simplicity. Yes, it’s kind of boring, but I adore a cap sleeve when it’s done well. Julianna always looks better when she keeps her style simple, with clean lines and solid colors too. I also love JM’s hair here – I dislike it when she slicks everything back – it ages her. Looser styles compliment her face. My one complaint: the lining seems off somehow and in some photos you can totally see JM’s nips. Also: her husband is so cute.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

If anyone screams “WHO?” in the post, there will be harsh consequences. Aishwarya Rai is one of the biggest stars in India – she’s the Angelina Jolie of Bollywood. Here is her IMBD. She’s gotten some attention in the UK and the US as well, notably some beauty contracts and some roles in Hollywood films here and there (The Pink Panther 2, The Last Legion). She married Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, and she gave birth to their first child, a daughter, last November. I’m including our most recent photos of her, from France in May and June of 2011 – she was pregnant then, but she was barely showing. Rai did gain a significant amount of weight during her pregnancy, and now she’s being bashed for not losing the weight fast enough. You should go look at this recent photo of her – someone caught a photo of her double chin. So… it’s a thing now. Someone put together this video (complete with elephant sounds) and people are really pissed off.

She is a former Miss World, a successful Bollywood star and married to the son of one of India’s best-loved stars. She found international fame in the Hollywood film Bride and Prejudice, and Julia Roberts billed her as the world’s most beautiful woman. Thanks to the notoriety such fame and fortune has brought her, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has become one of the most admired and revered women in India, and indeed the world. But such fame has come at a cost for the 38-year-old star.

Since the birth of her daughter in November last year, Aishwarya Rai has been open about the fact that she is in no hurry to lose the few extra pounds she gained during her pregnancy. The model and actress, who won the Miss World title in 1994, defended her choice, saying she wanted simply to ‘enjoy motherhood.’

But with the star, who married Abhishek Bachchan, the son of India’s most loved film star Amitabh Bachnan in 2007, tipped for her 10th appearance at Cannes next week, furious speculation is mounting as to how she will look. Commentators have been unkind, lambasting the star for letting her fans down. Many have gone a step further, suggesting the star has a ‘duty’ to her fans to regain her pre-pregnancy figure.

One website posted a video of the star looking less than her usual svelte self, flicking between photographs of her pre-birth, and photos now. Called ‘Aishwarya Rai’s shocking weight gain’, the clip, which came accompanied by elephant sound effects, has been seen more than 500,000 times. Dozens more videos in a similar vein have been posted, each with viewing figures in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

Comments left after the video prove that many of those watching have little sympathy for Aishwarya.

‘She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit,’ one said. Another added: ‘She needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery.’

It has opened up a debate in the country, and beyond, about the attitudes held towards women in the public eye.

‘Aishwarya is like a goddess,’ said showbusiness columnist Shobhaa Dé in the New York Daily News by way of explanation. ‘She is held up as the ideal of beauty and so there is an expectation on her to look perfect at all times. The role models being held up are Angelina Jolie and Victoria Beckham, but our body frames are different – we have wider hips and curves – so this whole business of looking desperately skinny two weeks after giving birth is a western import.’

Cinema professor Shohini Ghosh added that women in India were up against an almost impossible task. ‘There is a glorification of motherhood in India and Indian cinema,’ he told the paper. ‘But people are confused because they don’t know whether to glorify Aishwarya in her new motherhood or lament that she is not looking like a runway model.’

[From The Mail]

For the love of God. She’s not even that much bigger – she just looks like a petite woman who hasn’t taken off her baby weight yet. As for the whole “people are imposing Western values on the traditional Indian body type” – I have mixed feelings about that too. Rai is so popular internationally because – in my opinion – she does look like a very Anglicized Indian woman. She’s made a career out of her borderless beauty, so let’s not ring the “this is how all Indian women look” bell too hard. But yeah – give her a break. She’s a first time mom and Jesus (Krishna?), stop making it into a thing.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

The Cannes Film Festival got off to a solid start Wednesday night with the premiere of Pixar’s Up. Tilda Swinton was one of the biggest names on the red carpet, and I think we can officially say that she’s now wearing make-up for her most of red carpet appearances. Hooray! Her outfit even looked amazing, some sort of layered maroon dress/cardigan thing that looked lovely. But her hair! Oh, God, that hair. Isn’t that the haircut Marines are given? The shaved bottom half and kept longish at the top? Perhaps I think that’s a Marine cut because I see it so often on NCIS.

From what I can tell, Bollywood goddess Aishwarya Rai just came to party, considering she’s not in any of the films premiering at Cannes and she’s not a judge. She’s still one of the best dressed women thus far.

The evening gowns glittered, the red carpet was unfurled _ and the 3-D glasses were at hand as the 62nd Cannes Film Festival opened Wednesday with the soaring animated adventure “Up.”

“Up’”s delighted filmmakers from Pixar Animation joined the crowd of stars and cineastes on the red carpet in this French Riviera resort and said being invited to Cannes was a dream come true.

“We’re just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival,” said a beaming John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative maestro.

Edward Asner, who voices “Up’”s main character, did not come to Cannes. But his counterpart in the French-language version, crooner Charles Aznavour, was there.

Lacking star power from the “Up” voice cast, the biggest name on the red carpet was Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton.

Inside, Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry serenaded the crowd with a version of Aznavour’s “She,” before Aznavour declared the festival officially open.

Organizers were hoping “Up” would provide a buoyant start before the festival plunges into 12 days of movies that take in passion, murder, Korean vampires and a band of Nazi-hunters led by Brad Pitt.

Members of the jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert will be wrangling over which auteurs _ from a slate that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Ken Loach _ should receive Cannes’ coveted prizes. But on Wednesday, Huppert was in a gentle mood.

“I don’t think we are here to judge,” she said. “I think we are here to love films _ and to see what we love more than others.”

Huppert is one of only a handful of women ever to head the jury at the world’s most prestigious film festival. She said the numbers didn’t bother her: her predecessors _ who include Sophia Loren and Liv Ullmann _ were “women who count for a lot.”

Fellow juror Hanif Kureishi, the British screenwriter of “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “The Mother,” was more concerned with another omission.

“I’m not aware we’ve ever had a black or Asian president of the jury,” he said. “It will be interesting to see when that will occur.”

Scores of celeb-watchers waited patiently outside Cannes’ waterside film complex Wednesday, hoping for a glimpse of the stars _ any stars. Few knew who was due to arrive, but most didn’t seem to mind.

“I want to see Angelina Jolie on the red carpet,” said Corinne Besnier, who traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Reims in northern France. “And Johnny Hallyday” _ the French rock star who plays a killer in Hong Kong’s director Johnnie To’s “Vengeance.”

Hundreds of brightly colored helium balloons festooned the building in honor of “Up,” the story of an old man and a young boy who float off to South America in an airborne house.

There’s weightier fare among the 20 films in competition, including Tarantino’s World War II epic “Inglourious Basterds,” with Pitt as leader of a group of Jewish soldiers hunting down Nazis.

The lineup looks strong, but festival organizers and industry attendees are apprehensive about how the global recession will affect the event. Festival director Thierry Fremaux said he expects attendance to be up slightly from last year, but Vanity Fair magazine has canceled its annual Cannes party, and some soirees are rumored to have swapped champagne for sparkling wine.

[From Huffington Post]

As HuffPo mentioned, French actress Isabelle Huppert is the jury’s president this year, taking over from last year’s president Sean Penn. In a weird twist, Robin Wright Penn is on the jury this year too. Last year, Sean said publicly that his goal was to reward and recognize political films, but Huppert has already stated her difference in opinion. She told the media that her number one rule for recognizing a film was “the importance of the humanist ambitions and esthetic intentions of movies.” So, it looks like the Nazi bloodfest of Inglourious Basterds isn’t going to make the cut!

Shown are Tilda Swinton, Elizabeth Banks, Aishwarya Rai, Robin Wright Penn, Asia Argento, and Shu Qi of “UP.” Credit: WENN.com

Barbie is getting a facelift. Sort of. In the grand recent tradition of “celebrity Barbies,” Mattel is going to introduce an Indian Barbie. They are naming her “Bollywood Barbie” and they will base her looks on Bollywood (and Hollywood) actress Aishwarya Rai. Rai may be familiar to Western audiences through her role in Pink Panther 2 and as one of the faces of L’Oreal. She’s absolutely gorgeous, with a beautiful face and figure – and she’s famous for her striking green eyes.

Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is set to win the ultimate beauty accolade – a Barbie doll modeled on her celebrated face. Rai sprung to fame when she won the Miss World contest in 1994, which spawned a lucrative modelling and acting career.

She made the transition to Hollywood with starring roles in Bride and Prejudice, Mistress of Spices, The Last Legion and more recently in Pink Panther 2 alongside Steve Martin.

She became the face of L’Oréal cosmetics in 2005 and is one of only two Indian film stars to have their waxwork image displayed at Madame Tussaud’s. She formally became a member of Bollywood’s “royal family” when she married actor Abhishek Bachchan, the son of India’s most popular star Amitabh Bachchan.

Now she is set to join the ranks of Hollywood immortals and pop divas like Beyoncé Knowles, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diana Ross, who have all had “celebrity Barbies” modeled on them.

Rai’s representatives were yesterday reported to be in negotiations with the toy manufacturer as it plans to transform the iconic doll into a Bollywood star and sell it throughout India.

If successful, the new Barbie will have Miss Rai’s striking green eyes, and wear outfits created by India’s top designers.

[From The Telegraph]

Argh! They’re only doing Bollywood Barbie in India. That sucks. Aren’t there enough little girls in America and Britain who want to have a Bollywood Barbie? Or are they only supposed to idealize blond hair and vacant, dead eyes?

I will give Mattel credit for using Indian designers to create Bollywood Barbie’s clothes. That’s really cool. I wonder if Bollywood Barbie will have a sari? Will she have a removable bindi? That would be cool, but can you imagine how small that dot would have to be?

Here’s Aishwarya Rai at the Berlin Film Festival’s premiere of ‘Pink Panther 2′ on February 13th. Images thanks to WENN .

The first reviews are in for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, which had its much-anticipated premiere at Cannes yesterday, and they’re mixed. A critic for Britain’s Telegraph calls it “creaky” with bad dialog but admits that it has rollicking good special effects. The overall consensus is that it’s a lot of fun, but that the plot leaves something to be desired.

The Pirates of the Caribbean films weren’t well reviewed either, but there was plenty of action and eye candy and they sure cleaned up at the box office. The fourthIndiana Jones movie is likely to do the same.

Here’s the latest trailer. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull is out in the US and in most countries on May 22:

And here are pictures from the premiere yesterday, including Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Salma Hayek, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Aishwarya Rai, Linda Evangelista, Billy Zane and Kelly Brook (who are probably back together) and Goldie Hawn. Cate Blanchett always looks gorgeous.

The stars were out for the opening festival at the Cannes film festival, and they sure were gorgeous. The first film to open the 12 day film festival on the Riveria is Blindness. The film by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles is based on a 1955 novel in which an entire city goes blind after an epidemic. Julianne Moore plays one of the few people who is unaffected and retains her sight. She tries to hide it from the rest of the city as society breaks down from the effects of the change. Blindness also stars Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, and Gael García Bernal.

The 9 person jury at Cannes includes Natalie Portman and is headed by Sean Penn. Penn didn’t miss a chance to rip on US President George Bush while talking to the press at the event. It’s likely that he was asked directly about it, and he is quoted by Reuters as saying “When somebody operates without a brain and without a heart, they kill hundreds of thousands of people around the world.” I dislike Bush as much as the next person, but there are much better ways of phrasing that. It’s lame to personally attack someone in such a blunt way when you can state more compelling reasons for disliking the guy. Bush definitely has a heart and a brain, he just choses when to use them. When it involves money, they’re easily switched off and immune to suffering, death and general havok-wrecking. Reuters notes that Penn then smoked a cigarette “in defiance of French anti-smoking laws.” You would think he would be afraid of setting that ridiculous hair on fire.

Shown at the opening ceremony at Cannes are Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria (who’s still looking pregnant to me), Rachida Brakni, Aishwarya Rai, Gillian Anderson, Sean Penn (the hair!), Julianne Moore, Gael García Bernal, Mischa Barton, Danny Glover, and Bar Rafaeli.

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan says his wife, 1994 Miss Universe Aishwarya Rai, comes first. When I read this headline I actually thought it was referring to their sex life, and given how much trouble Richard Gere is in for kissing Shilpa Shetty, wondered if India was getting very relaxed very quickly. Turns out he meant in a much more supportive, less spicy manner.

“You always give things first to the wife, and then you have,” the actor, son of Amitabh Bachchan, said, adding that this was how marriages worked among Indians.

He also added that Aishwarya isn’t pregnant.

“That’s incorrect … there’s no such good news. When there is, I will tell you,” he said, on the sidelines of an endorsement event late on Thursday.

New Zealand Herald

This very attractive couple are being called India’s Brangelina, except I’m kinda tired of Brad and Ange. Maybe because they’re a Bollywood power couple (they don’t like the derogatory term Bollywood), but neither Abhishek or Aishwarya have divorces, knives, adoptions, lesbian affairs or any of that juicy gear in their history. Actually, maybe Bollywood’s power couple have nothing in common with Brangelina at all?

Note by Celebitchy: Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announced their “Unforgettable” tour in a press conference in Toronto on July 7th. The Unforgettable tour will feature Bollywood films and will tour 18 different countries. It is expected to premiere in Toronto next summer. Bachchan said “If all goes well, and God willing, we will premiere the Unforgettable Tour in the city of Toronto because we feel that it is the best city to premiere the tour in.” Thanks to Right Celebrity for the news, and WENN for the header picture.