France honours Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai (AFP)

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is to be honoured on Wednesday for her work promoting cinema links between India and France, the French embassy said.

The 37-year-old star, who is pregnant with her first child, will be made a knight of the order of arts and letters at a ceremony in New Delhi.

The award, on the eve of France's national day, was "a recognition of her contribution to the world of cinema and to the development of Franco-Indian co-operation in the film industry", the embassy said.

Rai Bachchan, who won the Miss World title in 1994, has starred in more than 40 Hindi-language films and a number of English-language films, including the Steve Martin remake of the "Pink Panther" classics.

She is married to leading actor and producer Abhishek Bachchan, 35, whose father Amitabh, is one of Bollywood's biggest stars.

France's Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont will present the honour, with many of Rai Bachchan's family expected to be present.

Amitabh Bachchan was given France's highest civilian award, the Legion of Honour, in 2007.

In 2003, Rai Bachchan became the first Indian actress to be part of the jury at the Cannes film festival.

She was at Cannes this year promoting her upcoming film "Heroine", the shooting of which has since been postponed because of her pregnancy.

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Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai pregnant (AFP)

MUMBAI (AFP) – Former Miss World turned actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is pregnant, her father-in-law and veteran Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has revealed.

"NEWS NEWS NEWS !! I AM GOING TO BECOME A GRANDFATHER .. AISHWARYA EXPECTING .. SO HAPPY AND THRILLED !!!," Bachchan wrote on his Twitter page late Tuesday.

Aishwarya Rai, 37, married Bachchan's actor son Abhishek, 35, in April 2007. The child will be their first and comes after weeks of speculation in Indian gossip columns about the actress' fluctuating weight.

Bachchan senior later said on the micro-blogging site that he was "overwhelmed" with the response to the news from followers and had received 2,843 tweets of congratulation in just half an hour.

Writing on his blog bigb.bigadda.com, he said: "There is joy and happiness around us."

There was no immediate indication when the baby was due.

The Bachchans -- Amitabh, his actress wife Jaya, Aishwarya and Abhishek -- are Bollywood's "first family" and have a fanatical following in India and around the world. His daughter, Shweta Nanda, has two children.

The family patriarch said he was particularly pleased with the news because "now cometh the progeny of my son that shall bear the surname Bachchan - the first in this generation...".

The family boycotted the annual Filmfare magazine awards in 2010 after a tabloid newspaper in Mumbai wrote that Rai could not have children, prompting a legal notice to be sent demanding a retraction and an apology.

Rai, who took the Miss World crown in 1994, made her debut in Hindi-language Bollywood in the late 1990s and has gone on to star in more than 40 Indian films.

Most recently she was in the blockbuster South Indian film "Endhiran" (Robot) alongside Tamil-language superstar Rajinikanth, which broke box office records in India.

She appeared as a jewel thief in Steve Martin's "The Pink Panther 2". Her other English-language films include "Bend It Like Beckham" director Gurinder Chadha's "Bride and Prejudice" in 2004 and "The Last Legion" in 2007.

She was recently seen at the Cannes film festival promoting her upcoming film "Heroine", which was due to begin shooting this year.

The chief executive of UTV Motion Pictures, Ronnie Screwvala, said at the time that Rai had star power.

"She is the brand ambassador for India and for Indian cinema when it comes to the French Riviera."

Rai also has a number of lucrative modelling contracts, including for French cosmetics firm L'Oreal.

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Indian film star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan pregnant (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is pregnant with her first child, her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

"I am going to become a grandfather Aishwarya expecting. So happy and thrilled!!!" Bachchan said, confirming the subject of weeks of speculation.

Rai, 37, a former Miss World, has been married to actor Abhishek Bachchan for more than four years and the star couple had been fending off pregnancy rumors in the past year.

On Tuesday, Rai's media manager confirmed the pregnancy but did not give more details.

Rai, who often features on "most beautiful" lists, has worked in several Hollywood and Bollywood films but has taken on noticeably fewer projects recently.

She has no films under production but has signed up to filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar's "Heroine," which was announced at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar)

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Aishwarya Rai to play fictional Bollywood heroine (AP)

CANNES, France – It's a safe bet that Indian actress Aishwarya Rai won't have to do too much research for her latest role: Bollywood's biggest female star is playing, well, Bollywood's biggest female star, the movie's producers announced on Friday.

"Heroine," by director Madhur Bhandarkar, is billed in the production company's press release as an "entertaining, daring, emotional, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind-the-scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour that our stars inhabit."

Still, Rai — a former Miss World — stated that the film, which enters production in June, is "not an autobiography, for sure."

Rumors to the contrary are "to tickle your fantasy," she told reporters at a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival. "That's what the viewer will probably be searching for, but very honestly, as an actor, it's your professional responsibility to give to your characters with absolute commitment.

"It's not just about you going out there and doing your own thing and creating your own character. It's the director who wrote it and that's the way it gets read and that's the way it gets eventually brought to life," said the emerald-eyed actress, whose many appearances at Cannes and contracts with international luxury brands have placed her among the most international renowned faces of Indian cinema.

Rai first came to India's attention when she was crowned Miss World in 1994. She's since made dozens of movies, including "Devdas," the pathos-filled musical that became a crossover international blockbuster in 2002.

The 37-year-old actress's personal life has also had its share of drama. Over the years, she was romantically linked to some of Bollywood's most famous leading men before marrying Abhishek Bachchan, the son of Bollywood scion Amitabh Bachchan, in 2007. The pair has made a few films together, including last year's action-packed "Raavan."

Bhandarkar is best known for his films "Chandni Bar" (2001), "Page 3" (2005), "Traffic Signal" (2007) and "Fashion," a 2008 movie starring Priyanka Chopra about the Indian fashion industry.

A release date for "Heroine" is yet to be set.

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