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Ash unveiled at Madame Tussauds with song & dance
Resplendent in black and red, a giggling Aishwarya was full of beans at the launch of her wax replica.
About two years ago Amitabh Bachchan created history when he became the first Bollywood star to rub shoulders with the likes of Brad Pitt, Mahatma Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth at the world-renowned Madame Tussauds wax museum. Today Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Gandhi, John F Kennedy and Bachchan looked on, wearing garlands and bindis, as Aishwarya Rai entered the company of the famous.
Dressed in a red satin and black lace dress Aishwarya Rai came to Madame Tussauds in a white stretch limousine to see her wax replica for the first time at its launch. The atmosphere was charged with live bands playing Bollywood songs, colourfully attired dance groups performing vibrant Bollywood dance routines.
An eager Aishwarya, accompanied by Gurinder Chadha, the director of Bride & Prejudice starring Aishwarya, stood looking at the wax figure from all angles. Like a young teenager Aishwarya giggled constantly as she carefully examined her wax double, attired in an intricately hand-embroidered red crepe chiffon sari, which has been made by her own dresser in India. Adorned in a Kundan set with heavy gold bangles the wax replica strikes a dancing pose.
When asked what she thought of her replica, Aishwarya giggled even more and said: "It's strange to see another me. I don't have a twin." She even called out to her mom to tell her she was "cloned". Her mother came later to admire her daughter's wax replica. Mother and daughter were full of laughter while photographers could not stop photographing the former Miss World.
Chadha's Bride & Prejudice which will give Aishwarya an international status, admired the wax figure but said: "It is undoubtedly beautiful but not quite as beautiful as the original one," she said as she looked at the actress who giggled again.
With the launch of Aishwarya's wax replica Madame Tussauds is also starting 'Bollywood for Beginners' which opens on October 1, where scenes from Bride & Prejudice can be enacted by guests. A drama coach and choreographer will invite guests to take centre stage for a master class to enact scenes from the film with a team of professional dancers. The timing fits well with Chadha's Bollywood version of the British classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which will release in theatres worldwide on October 8. Posters for Bollywood for Beginners are pasted all over the walls of the museum, adding a touch of India.
As Chadha said of her film, and about the character Elizabeth Bennett, being played by Aishwarya: "She represents the modern, fiercely proud, fiercely nationalistic Indian - that is what India is today."
