Aishwarya Rai replaced by Freida Pinto as face of L'Oreal'

Aishwarya Rai, the Hollywood and Bollywood film star widely regarded the 'world's most beautiful woman,' has been ousted as the Indian face of cosmetic giant L'Oreal by Freida Pinto, according to industry insiders.
Her omission from L'Oreal's 'Happy New Year 2011' campaign marks the end of her reign as the world's best recognised Indian face, commentators said, and her demise as the country's most successful international film star.

It also marks the rise of Ms Pinto, who was relatively unknown until her appearance in Slumdog Millionaire, as one of India's top global stars.

The replacement of Ms Rai in L'Oreal's 'Happy New Year' campaign caps a miserable few months for a woman still regarded as a classical Indian beauty. Newspaper columnists have criticised her for appearing to have put on weight, while her appearance on the cover of the Indian edition of Elle magazine sparked a controversy over her skin colour.

It was claimed the photographs had been altered to make Ms Rai appear white.

Bollywood commentator and editor of The Hindustan Times' Brunch magazine Poonam Saxena said there was a growing perception in India that Ms Rai's reign was now over.

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Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan skip Raavan screening at Venice fest

Bollywood couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan won't be able to attend the screening of their film Raavan at the upcoming 67th Venice Film Festival, due to prior commitments with their brand endorsements. Raavanan and Raavan - the Tamil and the Hindi versions of the Mani Ratnam film - and Anurag Kashyap's That Girl In Yellow Boots will be screened at the festival, starting on Wednesday.

“Aishwarya and Abhishek are not going for the Venice Film Festival as reported in some media outlets. The festival falls Abhi-Ashon the same dates on which they have previously committed. Aishwarya is going for an event for Longines (as she is the brand ambassador), while Abhishek will be busy with a shoot for Omega in Italy,” said a source close to the actors.

"There are other film festivals too - Doha and Pusan - where Abhishek and Aishwarya are being invited, to showcase their film or even for individual honours. But the duo will decide which ones to attend according to their schedules," added the source.

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Aishwarya Rai refuses to kiss Brad Pitt

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is one of the most desirable Bollywood actress in Hollywood. Lots of promising Hollywood offer comes her way but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan prefers to give them a miss following tight schedule. She has so many to do in Bollywood that she won’t be able to do justice to overseas projects. One interesting project that came to her doorstep was ‘Troy’ but Ash rejected the offer as the film includes some intimate scenes with Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Regarding the offer, the 36 yr old actress said, "One of the reasons I declined ‘Troy’ was that there were some very explicit lovemaking scenes in the script, and a lot of kisses. I was like, `Oh my God! I`m not sure`. I couldn`t imagine being comfortable with it".

Ash was also the top choice for ‘Hancock’ and ‘Seven Pounds’ in the past but she chose to say no. Confirming the news, Aishwarya said, "It wasn`t about an attitude I had, or any inverted ideas about working overseas, it was simply about scheduling. I just didn`t have the time".

Hollywood directors like Brett Ratner wanted her for ‘Rush Hour’ and Wolfgang Petersen persuaded her for ‘Troy. Speaking about her international projects, she quips, "Michael Douglas came to India and did a press conference where he confessed that he had brought a script my way. And Will Smith was generous enough to be persistent twice over, for ‘Hancock’ and ‘Seven Pounds’.”

However, Ash is not interested to go westward.

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