[imagebrowser id=178]
MUMBAI: Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the poster girl for the United Nations, as she is the UN’s International Goodwill Ambassador. In this capacity, the lovely Mrs. Bachchan paid a visit to the Sion Hospital in Mumbai, on the occasion of World AIDS Day, on December 1.
Aishwarya took time out of her hectic schedule and demanding tasks of motherhood, to visit the hospital and to learn more about services provided to HIV positive pregnant women within the National Programme on Prevention of HIV transmission from Mother to Child (PMTCT).
She even spoke passionately at the press conference, in the presence of UNAIDS Senior Advisor Nandini Kapoor Dhingra and Additional Secretary of the National AIDS Control Organisation, Aradhana Johri.
Clad in a vibrant red tee-shirt, which read ‘UN Aids’, Aishwarya was out in full support of the endeavor. She chose to go with a minimal make-up look, and left her long, flowing tresses loose around her gorgeous shoulders. Sunglasses perched atop her crown; she looked radiant as she interacted with the children at the hospital.
The lovely lady, like so many other Bollywood celebrities, including her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, credits the late Yash Chopra for her successful Bollywood career. “Yashji is very special to me because he is one of the reasons that I am in the film industry. He is one of the main reasons because he is the one who kept talking to me for two years before I joined the industry, to convince me,” revealed the stunning beauty at an earlier event.
“He always used to tease me, he used to say become an architect, design my sets and then you will definitely come in front of the camera, I’ll see to it. So he is just such a special person even to me,” she added.
Aishwarya has worked in Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) ‘Mohabbatein’ and ‘Dhoom 2’, and says she shared a very personal relationship with the filmmaker, who passed away Oct 21, following dengue and subsequent multi-organ failure. “Today, of course, I am married to Abhishek (Bachchan) and part of the family and he (Yashji) used to say that ‘Ab toh tum bahu ban gayi ho’ (Now you are like my daughter-in-law), so that is how personal it was. He has a very special place in my heart and my life,” she said.
