Aishwarya Rai played the perfect ambassador for the Bachchan family at Cannes as she used the red carpet to promote not one of her films, but her father-in-law Amitabh's blog.

Rajeev Masand: You just celebrated your first wedding anniversary and this time the whole family is here, your husband Abhishek Bachchan and your father-in-law will also be at Cannes. Is this an extended anniversary celebration then?

Aishwarya Rai: No, that’s not the way we regard it. It’s you all who are making these announcements. But it’s just about taking time out and being together. It’s just holiday time with pa and ma.

Rajeev Masand: After the critical and commercial success of Guru, you and Abhishek have been paired once again in Mani Ratnam’s film. Tell us a little about the film.

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It's RGV's most anticipated film of the year. Abhi-Ash's first film together post marriage and one of Amitabh's best roles ever, yes Sarkar Raj. Incidentally, Ramu wanted that the scene they first shoot after marriage should be the scene where Abhi and Ash are striking a conversation for the first time and trying to know each other.

Truly, RGV knew exactly what he wanted and got it. The scene where they were to interact with each other for the first time was to be done with tentativeness and they were to weigh each other as people. Since they were shooting for the first time after marriage, there was newness to their relationship and they were a bit conscious in front of the entire unit… this worked exactly as per the demand of the scene.

Sarkar Raj talks about an intense political drama and is essentially a study of power; it explores the politics of development and takes a fresh look at the tradition versus modernity debate.

When Anita Rajan (Aishwarya Rai - Bachchan), CEO of Sheppard power plant, an international Company, brings a power plant proposal to set up in rural Maharashtra before the Nagres, insightful Shankar (Abhishek Bachchan) is quick to realize the benefits the power plant can bring to the people. After convincing Sarkar (Amitabh Bachchan) who is against it for various reasons, Shankar undertakes a journey along with Anita to the villages of Maharashtra to mobilize support from the masses.

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What will Aishwarya Rai wear down the red carpet at this year's Cannes Film Festival? Ever since she arrived by horse drawn carriage, dressed in a stunning yellow dress for the premiere of her film Devdas in 2002, Rai’s annual presence at the festival has added a unique Bollywood hue to the red carpet proceedings. Last year, my heart skipped a beat when Rai arrived decked in a white gown with her new husband Abhishek Bachchan on display.

Her choice of apparel has always created waves. In 2003, the Armani-clad Rai was the first Indian actor to sit on the prestigious judges’ panel and the following year, decked in Chopard and a Neeta Lulla skimpy white dress, she made spectators gasp in awe. Black was her colour of choice in 2005 and she arrived hand in hand with fellow L’Oreal brand ambassador Andie MacDowell in 2006. This year Rai will be there again: she is contractually bound by L’Oreal to appear.

Rai, hubby Abhishek and father in law, Amitabh Bachchan will be in town and will probably stay at the Martinez Hotel where they stayed last year. The trio’s latest film, Sarkar Raj, the sequel to Sarkar which is based on The Godfather, will enjoy an out of competition premiere.

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Red carpet drama. Cream of cinema. And an international flurry of celebrities. Welcome to Cannes Film Festival, which turns 61 this year.
Even though Indian movies are yet to spell their magic as actively as one would like, Bollywood stars are more than happy to lend their brand of glamour to the proceedings. It all started with a certain Mrs Rai-Bachchan. Let's face it, the event gained prominence in our media ever since Ash became a regular at Cannes.

With the festival just around the corner, rediff.com goes into flashback mode. Here's a look at the Bollywood presence in Cannes during the last few years.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Cannes marks a very special place in Aishwarya's life. The love affair started with her visit in 2002 to promote Devdas alongwith director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and co-star Shah Rukh Khan.

The following year she was invited to be part of the festival's prestigious jury, a first for an Indian actress. Unluckily for Ash, she made more news for her tacky wardrobe, designed by Neeta Lulla instead of rubbing shoulders with fellow judges like Meg Ryan and Steven Soderbergh.

Ash was back at Cannes in a sexier, improved super-glam avatar in 2004 as a representative of L'Oreal cosmetics a tradition that continues till the soon-to-be-held fest.

In 2005, besides flaunting her style, she also delivered the inaugural speech with Sideways director Alexander Payne. The year 2006 turned out just great as well. Her film, Provoked based on the true life story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, premiered at the festival. 2007 couldn't have been any better for the newly wed Mrs Bachchan, as the stunner made her first post-marriage appearance at the Cannes red carpet sporting hubby Abhishek in arm.

Our quick poll to gauge the relative popularity of Bollywood's top actresses proved Aishwarya Rai continues to prevail, but Katrina has gained a lot of ground! We were taken aback by Kareena Kapoor's relative unpopularity.

Our quick poll to gauge the relative popularity of Bollywood's top actresses proved Aishwarya Rai continues to prevail, but Katrina has gained a lot of ground! We were taken aback by Kareena Kapoor's relative unpopularity.

Kareena is undoubtedly the most talented of the four actresses but she is a loud mouth and admittedly the least striking. Most of all, her break up with Shahid Kapoor does not seem to have gone down well with our readers.

Filmmaker Pan Nalin's patience may finally pay off. After having sat on his offer for lead roles in his biopic on Gautam Buddha, the Bachchans - Amitabh, Aishwarya and Abhishek - are now reportedly talking with the Paris based filmmaker.

To begin with Nalin was keen to sign up just Aishwarya as Yashodhara, Gautam Buddha's wife. However, when Aishwarya Rai demurred, citing her family commitments as Bachchan bahu, Nalin upped the ante by offering Abhishek Bachchan the role of Buddha and Amitabh Bachchan, the role of Buddha's father 'Shuddhodhana'.

However, because of their existing commitments the Bachchans sat on the offer. At one point Nalin threatened to move on but that did not happen, probably because Nalin had no where else to move on to!

The film has now been delayed long enough for the dates issue to have been automatically resolved.

There are already two films based on the life of the Buddha in the pipeline, to be directed by Shekhar Kapoor and Shyam Benegal. However, Pan says the storyline of his film differs.

"… my film will be different, it will be told from the point of Gautam Buddha's wife, Yashodhara."

Nalin's film is being produced by Barnet Bian and backed by Mahindra and Mahindra to the extent of Rs 75 crores.

She is a true 'Diva', the face that has given Bollywood enormous hits in the past and yet, has her legs firm on the ground!

Yes, we are talking of our own Jodhaa, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who has reached the pinnacle of success after the stupendous response that Jodhaa Akbar has got, both in India and overseas.

Reports are ripe that Ash will be paid a whopping 4 crore for the Rajnikanth starrer, 'Robot', and this means the actress will break all records and will be tagged the highest paid actress in India.

Well, even this huge money does not make this lady smile, as she is heartbroken as her hubby dearest, Abhishek is going for a long schedule in Miami for the shoot of newcomer director, Tarun Mansukhani's Dostana, produced by Karan Johar!

Well, wondering what the reason for the grief is? Yes, Dostana was offered to Ash, but when she declined to take it, the role was taken by Priyanka Chopra.

Ram Gopal Varma had an ingenious idea about promoting his film Sarkar Raj .

The movie, starring Amitabh Bachchan , Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai , has strong political undertones and Ramu had deemed it proper to promote it by organizing a mock political rally by the end of May.

Reports have it that an event management company was also hired to organize the rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. Amitabh, Abhishek and Ramu were to take part in the rally. But now, the plan has been scrapped keeping in mind the current political situation in Mumbai.

It is no secret that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackrey has been very vocal about criticizing Mr. Bachchan for neglecting Maharashtra in favour of UP. Fearing that the film’s mock rally might take an ugly turn, the idea has been dropped by the movie’s team.

‘Sarkar Raj’ is set to release in June. The film narrates yet another adventurous episode in the life of the Nagre family.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will be seen fighting with each other. Not in real, but in reel life. The trailer of Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar Raj which is doing the rounds of the idiot box, shows Aishwarya sans make-up in a very serious and strong role. The powerful father-son jodi of Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan reprise the roles of Subhash and Shankar Nagre in this sequel to the Godfather-inspired Sarkar.

With the Bachchan trio joining forces on screen (not for the first time though. The trio was last seen together in the superhit song 'Kajra Re' from Bunty Aur Babli), this movie has become the most-anticipated movies in recent times. More so because this is the first time that Abhi-Ash appear on screen together after their marriage.

The actress has a very rigourous schedule ahead. She will have to juggle dates between Shankar's Robot with Superstar Rajinikanth and Mani Ratnam's next with hubby Abhishek. And if the couple decide to start a family in due course... well this ex-Miss World will have her hands full!

The beautiful actress cannot stop raving about the veteran American actor. “He’s fantastic. An institution. He has unbelievable comic timing and such energy. It’s incredible how hard he works at his age on the physical comedy. Just like Pa! Pink Panther 2 is completely Steve Martin’s film,” said Ash, adding, “what makes my role special is that they haven’t specified my nationality. Nor have I been made to put on any accent. In fact, every other character is culture-specific. Except mine. That was really nice. We all have done our best. And when we started shooting in Paris, Abhishek was with me, so it was very nice.”

However, Ash refuses to admit that Pink Panther 2 being an international project was extra special to her. “I’m not one to compare assignments. For me Chokher Bali in Kolkata was as precious as Pink Panther 2 in Boston. But, yes, Gurinder Chadha’s Bride & Prejudice and her husband’s Mistress Of Spices had a lot of Indians in the crew, so I felt at home.” And to set the record straight, Ash said, “ The Last Legion with Sir Ben Kingsley was my first fully-fledged international project. It was such a fantastic experience.”