Aishwarya Rai's beauty takes your breath away. She never seems to have a bad hair day. She looks beautiful from all angles and at all times. India Today put her on the cover on November 15, 1996 for our story "The Beauty Craze" on the beauty industry but she has come a long way since then. Today her acting talent is well acknowledged by the industry-currently she is one of Bollywood's top stars.

Our November 1996 cover

Now this former Miss World has become the first Indian actor to be invited to serve on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. Cannes is without argument considered the most prestigious and glamorous gathering of film folk in the world. It is, if you are looking for a parallel, the Oscar of film festivals.

To be invited as a member of the jury at Cannes is to be singled out among peers, a sign of cinematic recognition-in this case, of the Bollywood genre of story-telling and its very lustrous leading lady of the moment.

The invitation to Cannes coincides with Rai's first steps at making a successful crossover to western cinema. Beyond the spotlight in Cannes, Rai could actually succeed where other Indian actors have struggled.

Not just because she possesses what our cinema expert Anupama Chopra calls a beauty that "transcends cultures and languages". Rai, being touted as the next Bond girl, will soon be shooting for Gurinder Chadha's adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice, and has agents working furiously behind the scenes in Los Angeles and London. She may well be India's first Hollywood star.

Chopra says, "The world has long been condescending towards Bollywood, but not anymore. This is just another step for our film industry on the global stage." In our cover story this week, Rai breaks her silence following the turmoil in her public life and an accident on a film set and talks about her plans for the future.

When Chopra suggested this cover story, I told her she could go ahead as long as I got to meet Aishwarya Rai. Well, I never met her but you've got your cover story. So, enjoy.