The Indians Abroad

AishWarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan’s appearance on Oprah Show

Aish and Abhi (Oprah.com)

As mentioned earlier, Aishwarya Rai along with her hubby was in Chicago, the Windy City, for Oprah Winfrey show. The show featuring the couple – Aish and Abhishek Bachchan, was telecasted worldwide on Monday Sep. 28. It also included a live link to China, to the audience of Chen Lu Yu – the talk show host who is also known as the Chinese Oprah.

Here are the synopses of their introduction by Oprah:

“Ash and Abhi, as they’re known to their 5 billion fans around the globe, were Bollywood superstars long before they fell in love and got married in April 2007. Abhi, Ash’s leading man, was born into India’s film industry. Both of his parents are famous Bollywood actors, and over the years, he’s starred in more than 40 films.

After being crowned Miss World in 1994, Ash became Bollywood’s breakout star. Since then, this emerald-eyed actress has landed dozens of endorsement deals and starred in more than 40 movies. She reportedly earns more than $15 million per film….. “

When asked by Oprah about his marriage proposal to her, Abhi shared:

“I was filming in New York for a movie,” he says. “And I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that, ‘One day, wouldn’t it be nice if I was together with her, married.’”

Years later, in New York City as a couple, they were there for the premiere of Guru….

“After the premiere, we were back in the hotel,” he says. “So I took her to the very same balcony, and I asked her to marry me.…..”

Talking about their extravagant wedding in India, Abhi pointed out, “The Indian Weddings are very elaborate and last for days…”

They talked about the Indian family concept, living with the parents….And, how in Bollywood movies, they prefer to sing a song in the mountains instead of Hollywood style French kiss after a boy and a girl fall in love.
Aish also shared her secret on how she is the most beautiful woman on the earth…well, not really . However, Oprah did ask her if she worry about things like waking up with a zit in the morning….

The interview lasted for quite a while including an Indian dance by some desi girls where Aish and Abhi show up in the middle of the dance routine (as per the plan), to surprise the dancers….

We like Oprah and we like Aish. Two great woman – one very smart and other one very beautiful . However, some of the numbers thrown around seemed a little off.  The numbers such as:

They have 5 billion fans world-wide:  Not sure about this; are we counting every Chinese kid as well? Or everybody in every country where their movies play?

Aishwarya gets paid more than $15 millions per movie:  That is more than Rs 60 Crores. Most of bollywood movies have far less budget in total.

Aishwarya starred in more than 40 films: Never counted, seems too many.

And seriously, out of all the exotic places in the world, he found a NY hotel balcony as the best place to propose? Well, at least she said ‘yes’ and he got the girl!

Overall an interesting East meets West interview.  More details on the interview can be found on Oprah web site linked here.

Finally, a little challenge: Do you think you know your Bollywood? Try the Bollywood Quiz!

Related Posts:

• The Best Bollywood Movies of All Times
• 10 Best Movies with NRIs and India Abroad Theme
• 20 Best Bollywood movies of last 10 years
• 20 Best Bollywood movies of 90s decade
• Top 20 Bollywood Movies of 80’s
• Bollywood Quiz 5 – The Idiots and a Dog

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