After hosting Diwali bash, Abhishek Bachchan to whisk wife Aishwarya Rai to Italy for her 46th birthday celebration
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; October 28, 2019)

A week-long celebration lies ahead for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who turns a year older on November 1. After playing host last night as the Bachchans threw open the doors of Jalsa for their Diwali bash, the actor is expected to head out of the country for a quick birthday holiday. mid-day has it that husband Abhishek Bachchan is whisking Aishwarya to Rome for a few days of rest-and-recreation.

A source says, "On Sunday, the Bachchans hosted a grand Diwali bash at home that went on till the wee hours of the morning. After a round of merry-making last night, Aishwarya, Abhishek and daughter Aaradhya will leave for Rome tonight. The doting husband has planned a week-long holiday, which will be a mix of business and pleasure. Aishwarya has an event lined up in the Italian capital on October 30 to mark her 20-year association with a Swiss watch brand. It will be a dual celebration as the brand officials have arranged a special birthday gala for her, with Abhishek and Aaradhya in attendance. After that, the trio will explore Rome and possibly the Vatican City over the next three days. He has already zeroed in on an exotic venue where they will ring in Ash's birthday on the night of October 31. Last year too, he had hosted a surprise birthday bash in Mumbai after which the trio headed to Goa for a getaway."

After the holiday, it will be all work and no play for the actor couple. Bachchan is expected to kick off the second schedule of Ajay Devgn-produced The Big Bull in the second week of November while Rai will begin prep for Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan. The source adds, "Before they dive headlong into work, the couple will organise an intimate party for their friends on their return to the bay."

As Aishwarya Rai Bachchan turns 45 today, Abhishek Bachchan takes a break from film shoot, whisks her away for an impromptu vacation in Goa
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; November 1, 2018)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan may prefer a low-key birthday, but you can count on Abhishek Bachchan to plan a surprise for wifey dearest. The doting hubby, who has been shooting for Anurag Basu's next in Hooghly (see pic below), took a break to spend some quality time with his better half. We hear, he whisked Rai and daughter Aaradhya off to Goa to celebrate the actor's 45th birthday today.

Says a source, "Abhishek wanted to be by Aishwarya's side when she rang in her birthday. So, he flew down on Monday night from Anurag Basu's shoot of the Life In A Metro sequel. Abhishek hosted a surprise party at the Bachchans' Juhu address last night. It was a private do with only family and close friends in attendance. Aishwarya even visited the Siddhivinayak Temple last night, after which the trio headed out to Goa early this morning. It is essentially a quick family getaway before Abhishek dives headlong into the shoot of Anurag's film again on November 4."

The source adds that on the occasion, Rai will make her annual contribution to the Cancer Patients Aid Association for the treatment of children suffering from cancer — a practice she has been following over the past eight years. While she has a tradition of visiting the children on her birthday, she will have to give it a miss this time around.

Anita Peter, executive director, Cancer Patients Aid Association, says, "Whenever Aishwarya is in Mumbai, she takes time out to meet our patients. We have been told that she is travelling and hence, won't be visiting us on her birthday. However, she has conveyed to us that she would love to meet the kids once she's back."

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to return from London in time for the festival of lights and for her beti’s b’day
Subhash K Jha (DNA; November 5, 2015)

November is a month of celebrations in the Bachchan household. Along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s (on November 1) and daughter Aaradhya’s (on Nov 16) birthdays, there’s also Diwali. “You’re forgetting my father’s birthday (Nov 20). We celebrate the entire month”, she laughs.

While she was in London shooting for Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil on her birthday, it was still a family celebration with Aaradhya and mother accompanying her to the shoot while husband Abhishek flew in to be with her. “It was a warm wonderful birthday. My husband and my producer Karan made sure of that,” says Ash.

She returns next week in time for the festival of lights. “Diwali has to be at home, no matter what. The family has to be together for that occasion. Or at least, we try to be. But all of us have our own crazy schedules. Sometimes it becomes impossible to fulfil family obligations. But we try our best,” she says.

Birthday girl Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on life, love, family and work
Upala KBR (DNA; November 1, 2015)


On kitchen matters
“After marriage, I remember people were keen to know how much time I spent in the kitchen. I remember after bau-bhaat, when you come to your in-laws’ home for the grihapravesh, I made halwa. Once in a while, I used to make bhindi or parathas. But the truth is, in our home, we are not in the kitchen all the time cooking. I did spend time in the kitchen more after Aaradhya was born, though — from the time that she started having solids, I was looking into all different foods, slowly and gradually introducing food tastes to her. You learn about nutrition, the combinations you can work out in terms of carbs, proteins and vegetables and create your own little recipes. Now, she eats what we eat, just a lot less spicier. Luckily, she was very easy with food, with a bit of work on our part. I have seen to it that I’ve introduced everything to her in different ways.”

Hands-on mom
“I don’t think it’s fair to compare or gloat about that. I am the mother that I want to be and I keep saying this — being a working mother is immensely challenging because any parent, especially those who have to go to work early in the morning, cannot see their kids for hours. It’s not easy. Nobody wants to leave their kid and go work.

I do admit that if the nature of my job allows for me to be able to have my child along, not feel the lack of my presence, then I am going to make the effort to accomplish that. And at the same time, give her a very normal childhood and be a very normal mother to her daughter. I do refer to my filming locations as an ‘office’ because I want Aaradhya to understand that I am a working mother who goes to office. ‘Shooting’ is a very strange term to her. Honestly, though, I never thought about it before marriage. Now I think shooting is a really weird term. I’ve become conscious of the words I use around her, how she would interpret them. Like a shot is being taken, but why would you say that to a kid and so on. She is familiar with the visual medium but I have never allowed her to get hooked on to it.”

My best roles: Miss World, actress, wife and mother
“Each one has been a learning phase because they were all overnight transitions in my life. The night before Miss World, I was a regular student and overnight, I was given this crown. My life changed. I wanted to represent my country, but then one takes on the responsibility as well. You don’t just want to be a beauty queen, but also a woman of substance. You need to learn things almost overnight and then one comes into films...Taking it up as a profession was tough for me because I was academically-oriented and working towards a degree. So if I wanted to take up acting as my career, I’d have to do that with confidence. You realise how quickly things change. It was changing at a certain pace for female leads and then suddenly you try to behave as if it’s already changed and are trying to bring that attitude in here. Marriage? Wow! Suddenly overnight, we went from being dearest of friends to looking at being a couple and starting a family together — you know how quickly that happened — and there was so much going on with me shooting for a period film (Jodhaa Akbar). At that phase, you automatically realise it’s all about your upbringing, your family, the values that you have always cherished. Bringing about that balance on another realm was important to me. But of course, the absolutely unknown, most beautiful and blessed learning phase has been motherhood! I am eternally grateful to God and Aaradhya that I had and am continuing to have this incredible challenge. I say this often and sometimes, people feel I’m being flowery, but it’s true. Motherhood is the most beautiful fatigue. It’s relaxing. It’s invigorating. Even if you are tired, you would rather spend that time with your child. You will never hear me complain ing about the loss of sleep. I have done it all on my own. I kept just one girl with me. I will let her eat and sleep and I will do everything. I have never kept a posse of maids and nannies. Even if it’s hard work, it’s my choice. I am not remotely complaining nor judging. These are the choices I have made and that’s the life I have been leading.”

All About Abhi
“He’s a friend, companion, husband and a father, but I think the fact that he’s my best friend pretty much encapsulates it all. We are a very normal couple. Abhishek and I sometimes joke about being second siblings. We both share and talk a lot about what we are feeling. Sometimes, we have so much to say that we want to be the first to share it. While we are both good listeners we are also extremely talkative.”

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; November 3, 2014)

Two days, two stars, two big bashes. The weekend gone by was, undoubtedly, an eventful one for B-Town as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan bringing in their birthdays in a style befitting their respective persona. Aishwarya, who stepped into the 41st spring of her life, chose to spend the day with her family and friends, both from within the industry and outside of it.

Sources said her three-year-old daughter, Aaradhya had made a hand-written card for mommy dearest while hubby Abhishek Bachchan had bought her a fancy gift from Dubai where he along with the Happy New Year star cast attended their film premiere.

Karan Johar and Manish Malhotra were among the close friends present at Aishwarya’s bash which went on till the wee hours of Sunday. In the evening, she stepped out in a black suit to celebrate her big day with mediapersons.

If the industry grapevine is to be believed, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta presented her with the trailer of Jazbaa, billed as Aishwarya’s comeback film. On getting a hand-made greeting card from Aaradhya, Ash said, “Last year it was all about her singing which happened this year too and with a lot of clarity. She also knows that her birthday is coming (November 16).”

Her birthday coincided with the success party of Happy New Year and built up to Shah Rukh Khan’s 49th birthday. Sources said that it was Gauri Khan’s idea to host the success bash and birthday party for SRK together. “The party started around 10pm and went on till 6am. His house was buzzing with revelry,” said a source.

The guest list at SRK’s bash included the Bachchans — Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek and Aishwarya, Karan Johar, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah, Farah Khan, Boman Irani, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Varun Dhawan, Malaika Arora Khan and Shilpa Shetty amongst others. Sood and Bachchan Jr are said to have danced to the Happy New Year songs at the party with their costars joining them one after the other on the dance floor.

The songs, especially Sharabi and Nonsense ki Night, were played on a loop and composers, Shekhar Ravjiani and Vishal Dadlani, who had scored the music for the film, had to give the party a miss as they were in Bhopal for a concert. There were performances by Mika Singh and Ali Zafar, too, said our source. “Among other guests, Madhuri Dixit danced on Ek Do Teen while Hrithik Roshan settled for the title song of his debut film, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai,” said another source.

A little before midnight, a sea of fans swarmed outside Mannat eager to get a glimpse of King Khan and they were not to be disappointed as their matinee idol appeared on his terrace to thank the crowds for their love and wishes.