Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes 2025: Saree, Then Velvet

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan opened the 2025 Cannes Film Festival red carpet in an ivory saree and followed it with a black velvet gown. The festival has been part of her public life since 2002. India Today, Indian Express and fashion sites describe the two looks, and her biography fills in how she became a Cannes regular.

The first look

India Today reports that she returned to the Cannes red carpet on May 21 in an ivory saree by Manish Malhotra. The paper describes it as a handwoven Kadwa ivory Banarasi handloom drape with handwoven brocade motifs and hand-embroidered zari detailing in real silver. A sheer white tissue dupatta, edged with real gold and silver zardozi embroidery, completed the outfit.

The detail that drew attention was the bright red sindoor in her hair. India Today asked whether it was a nod to India's Operation Sindoor, launched days earlier in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. That is the paper's question, and we did not find a statement from Rai Bachchan explaining it, so we do not offer an answer.

A Cannes veteran in a saree

The paper notes that this was not the first time she wore a saree at Cannes: in 2002 and 2003 she brought the six yards to the international stage, creating moments it says are still revered. A search summary of coverage from fashion sites says her Cannes debut was in 2002, which would make 2025 about her 23rd year of association with the festival, and that she attended as a global ambassador for L'Oréal Paris. We could confirm the 2002 saree appearance through India Today but not the 23rd-year count independently.

The second look

On the second day, search summaries of fashion coverage say she wore a black velvet Gaurav Gupta gown with sculpted detailing and a silver wrap, to the premiere of Colours of Time. We could not read those pages in full, so the details are indicative.

Her rise to the red carpet

Wikipedia says she won Miss World 1994, after finishing second in the Miss India pageant, and made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar in 1997, with her Hindi debut in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya the same year. It lists critical praise for her roles in Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), Chokher Bali (2003), Raincoat (2004), Provoked (2006) and Guzaarish (2010).

It also notes Devdas, in which she played Paro, and her title role in Umrao Jaan (2006), a part played by Rekha in the first film adaptation. More recently she played the Chola queen Nandini in the two Ponniyin Selvan films of 2022 and 2023.

Her screen work has since ranged widely. Wikipedia says she starred in Omung Kumar's Sarbjit (2016), playing Dalbir Kaur, the sister who campaigned for the release of Sarabjit Singh, and earlier won a critical and box-office success with Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar (2008). It also records that after winning Miss World she went on a world tour in 1995 as an ambassador of peace for the pageant.

Off-screen roles

The biography says she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS in 2012, supports philanthropic causes through her namesake foundation and is an investor. It lists no figures for her brand deals, and we did not find a reliable, current source on them.

What we could not confirm

We could not confirm her second-day gown details, the Colours of Time premiere reference or the L'Oréal ambassador title beyond search summaries. We did not find Rai Bachchan's own explanation of the sindoor. The count of her Cannes years is an approximation from a summary, and we did not audit each festival.

Sources

*Cover photo: GabboT, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannes_148_%2828014130852%29.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannes_148_%2828014130852%29.jpg)* (CC BY-SA 2.0).*