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Aishwarya Rai

Johansson: 'Because I'm Worth It'
5 January 2006 (WENN)
Scarlett Johansson has signed a multi-million dollar deal to be the new spokesmodel for French beauty giant L'Oreal. The Lost in Translation star, 21, joined L'Oreal only weeks after her two-year contract with Calvin Klein fragrances ended. Johansson will be seen experimenting with different hair colours in the ads for L'Oreal's new line Hip High Intensity Pigments. Johansson enthuses, "It's wonderful to be working with L'Oreal, a company that has celebrated independent women for years. I'm very excited to be part of this campaign, which is modern and fashion forward." Johansson joins Beyonce Knowles, Natalie Imbruglia, Eva Longoria, Aishwarya Rai, Claudia Schiffer, Andie MacDowell and Milla Jovovich at L'Oreal.

Supporters and Opponents of Indian Actor Clash at Theater
21 July 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Supporters and opponents of Indian actor Salman Khan squared off against one another at a theater in Patna following publication and broadcast of alleged conversations between Khan and actress Aishwarya Rai in which he boasted of underworld connections and threatened her. The Indo-Asian News Service reported Wednesday that when a group attempted to shut down a screening at the Regent Theater of Khan's latest movie, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, they were greeted by another group of fans, one of whom shouted, "Let anyone try and touch Salmanbhai's picture. Rivers of blood will flow if someone touches the film." Theater owner Suman Sinha told the wire service, "I don't know where the boys showed up from. Within minutes they cordoned off the lobby of the theatre, shouting pro-Salman slogans. ... It was a strange and bizarre phenomenon. In my 25 years of experience in this business I have never seen this happening before." Meanwhile published reports in India said Wednesday that the movie was pulled from a theater in Kerala on Monday following protests by "saffron activists." (There was no explanation of the term.) It was the third Indian theater to pull it since the controversial conversations between Khan and Rai were disclosed last week. Khan has said that the tapes were doctored. However, police officials said today (Thursday) that Khan's phone had been tapped and that it had sent tapes of the Khan-Rai conversation to a lab for analysis.

Actor Caught on Tape Boasting of Ties to Indian Mafia
20 July 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Prosecutors in Mumbai (Bombay), India are expected to step up their investigation of the alleged inroads organized crime has made into the Bollywood film industry after newspapers and television reported on telephone conversations in which Salman Khan, a leading Bollywood actor, boasted of his ties to the underworld and threatened actress Aishwariya Rai, his former girlfriend. "The underworld keeps tabs on you," he is heard to remark at one point on the tape. Khan has claimed that the tape of the conversations was doctored. Rai has not commented on them. Reporting on the scandal, the London Financial Times commented that it was unlikely that the tapes would disrupt the film business in Mumbai. Pooja Shetty, a director of Adlabs Films, told the newspaper: "In the past investors have asked us about the industry's flirtation with the underworld but at the end of the day the only response is to show them your balance sheet."

Indian Director Turning Austen Story Into a Bollywood Musical
3 November 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Indian director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) has told the French news agency Agence France Presse that she aims to popularize Indian films throughout the world with a Bollywood version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. "The characters in the film are all the same," she told AFP. "It is just set in an Indian environment. I have just given Indian names to the artists who have acted in the film rather than the names that are written in the novel. ... The only liberty that I have taken in the film is to include Bollywood songs." The film stars former Miss World and top Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai in her first English-language role.

Ryan and Soderbergh To Judge at Cannes
17 April 2003 (WENN)
Actress Meg Ryan and director Steven Soderbergh are joining the panel of judges at the Cannes Film Festival next month. They join veteran French actor Jean Rochefort, actress Karin Viard and Italian writer Erri De Luca on the nine-strong panel, headed by Gallic director Patrice Chereau. Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai joins the panel as the first Indian actress on the Cannes jury. The prestigious Palme D'Or award will be announced at the festival's closing ceremony on May 25. Among films being premiered at this year's event is The Matrix Reloaded and Penelope Cruz's new French-language movie Fanfan La Tulipe. The second film in the Matrix thriller trilogy will be shown out-of-competition on May 15.

Ryan, Soderbergh Among Cannes Jurors
17 April 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Director Steven Soderbergh, whose sex, lies and videotape won the Cannes Film Festival's coveted Palme d'Or award in 1989, and Meg Ryan are among the nine jurors who will select this year's winners, organizers announced Wednesday. The jury will be headed by Patrice Chéreau, whose film La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1994. Others included in the panel are Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, French actors Jean Rochefort and Karin Viard, Italian writer Erri De Luca, Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, and Chinese director Jiang Wen. Cannes president Gilles Jacob is scheduled to announce the titles of this year's competing films next Wednesday. The festival will run May 14-25.

Chaplin Silent Film to Close Cannes
9 April 2003 (StudioBriefing)
A newly restored version of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times -- his last silent movie, even though it was made in 1936 -- has been selected to close the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, festival officials announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Times of India reported today (Wednesday) that Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai has accepted an offer to sit on this year's Cannes jury. There has been widespread speculation recently that she has been offered a starring role in the next James Bond film.


'Pride and Prejudice' to Become Bollywood Extravaganza
19 December 2002 (StudioBriefing)
One of Bollywood's most in-demand stars, Aishwarya Rai, Miss World of 1994, has agreed to play the heroine of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in a Bollywood adaptation of the novel, the Times of India reported today (Thursday). According to the newspaper, the film will be directed by Gurinder Chadha, who helmed the British box-office hit Bend It Like Beckham earlier this year. Chadha said that she plans to shoot the film in Britain, the U.S. and India and expressed delight that Rai had agreed to star. "You know how it is with Bollywood stars," Chadha told the Times."It is so difficult to get dates for them because they are working on so many films at the same time."

India To Produce Imax Film About The Taj Mahal
3 April 2001 (StudioBriefing)
A group of Indian Internet tycoons based in Silicon Valley have agreed to put up $10 million to finance an Imax feature film based on the building of the Taj Mahal that will star former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, the Times of India reported today (Tuesday). Director Ganapathy Bharat told the newspaper that the film will be the biggest movie production in India since Richard Attenborough's 1982 Oscar winner Gandhi. He said that he expected the film to be released in July of next year.

Tax Authorities Raid Indian Movie Stars
28 September 2000 (WENN)
Indian tax officials have raided the residences and business premises of top Bollywood movie stars and their associates for the second day running yesterday. The raids in Bombay and elsewhere began on Tuesday morning and targeted, among others, stars Aishwarya Rai, Urmila Matondkar and Rani Mukherjee. P.K. Sarma, director general of investigation at the tax office in Bombay - India's film capital, says, "The raids are continuing. A team of 150 income tax officers is conducting the raids." Officials say 15 bank lockers have been sealed by the raiding teams and a large amount of cash and several documents relating to investments overseas were seized. Movie stars in India are rivalled only by cricketers in the celebrity stakes.

Richard Gere Honored By Bollywood
1 June 2000 (WENN)
Actor Richard Gere has been honoured by India's Bollywood film industry for his work in promoting Tibetan freedom from Chinese rule. The Pretty Woman (1990) star was greeted by thousands of representatives from the Indian film industry when they presented him with their MAN OF CONSCIENCE Award in New York on Saturday. Gere says, "I see my life very much entwined with India. My conscious awareness began in India and this is something I can never forget. The only way I was able to meet the Dalai Lama was through the kindness of the Indian people. " Other stars honored at the ZEE GOLD BOLLYWOOD AWARDS include Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai.