Wonder Woman

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the magic of motherhood and the madness of movies.

- Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

“YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL,” I blubber to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, neighbour and friend, who’s in a Juhu apartment, shooting for the cover of Bazaar.

Laughing, arms akimbo, she replies, “Well, you never say this when you come over for dinner! So I guess it’s all thanks to the team,” she generously passes on the tribute to makeup artist Mickey Contractor and designer Manish Malhotra.

“Let’s take a selfie,” I say. If I were judging my conduct, I’d file me under Adolescent.

“Of course, I take the best ones,” she agrees, as great photographer (and her dear friend) Farrokh Chothia pilots a light on a wall. Instantly, we’re bathed in flattering golden hues, but Aishwarya, true to her name, lacks no lambent glow. Luckily, I score when she concedes my selfies are better than hers; my secret is longer arms, and to look like someone you despise has just died: You can’t smile but you know you want to.

“Make sure you send them to me,” and I assure her I will but I never do: Standing next to her I appear so plain in comparison I want a DNA refund.

Let’s get this out of the way: If I were blubbering before a grown woman, this is because Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is not regular pretty. Hers is a neck-twisting, jaw-dropping, eye-widening, traffic-stopping, riot-starting, marriage-denting beauty. Check out the trailer of her newest film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, where she’s not so much a love interest to Ranbir Kapoor as much as the Chief Reason You Will See This Film.