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Aishwarya Rai and Chess - Six Degrees of Separation
Contribute to your favorite charity through Kevin Bacon's Sixdegrees.org

by Jan Newton, January 27, 2007

What's that adage about coincidence - "there is no such thing"...

A few weeks ago my Goddesschess cohort and fellow goddess, Georgia, and I were email-chatting about movies and I recommended "Bride and Prejudice" to her as an hilarious romp with great dance scenes and music, a fun, feel-good interpretation of the Jane Austen classic "Pride and Prejudice." (It sure made me get out of my chair and shake my booty.)

Some days later Georgia rented the video and she and Michelle (daughter goddess) loved the movie. Georgia decided to buy it for me as a gift (thank you, 'Sis). The beautiful Indian actress (1994 Miss World), Aishwarya Rai, starred in the film as Lalita Bakshi, Elizabeth Bennet's alter-ego. (Photo of Rai from BizHat.com.)

Rai, a superstar in her native India, has appeared in over 40 films since her debut in a 1997 Bollywood film "Iruvar." She is perhaps best known to western audiences for her role in "Bride and Prejudice," which was her first English-language film. Release of the film in the United States led to immense publicity for Rai, including appearances on popular programs such as "60 Minutes", "David Letterman" and "Oprah Winfrey" and presented her to a whole new segment of audience - the English-only speaking world.

Rai has many critics - they criticize her acting skills; they criticize her film choices; they criticize her personal life. But now that Rai has broken the east/west barrier, she has no intention of quitting. Rai has signed on to star with Colin Firth (who portrayed Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Benet's protagonist and love interest in A&E's 1995 production of "Pride and Prejudice," the best Darcy ever and arguably the best production ever of "Pride and Prejudice") and Ben Kingsley in 2007's historical epic "The Last Legion," as well as French director Coline Serreau's remake of her 2001 film " Chaos," which will cast Rai alongside Meryl Streep. Rai has not abandoned the cinema of her heritage, however, and has signed on for 2007 Bollywood movies including the "The Heart of India" and the historical romance "Jodha-Akbar" -- in which she will play the title role of Mughal king Emperor Akbar's Hindu wife and queen.

Around the same time Georgia rented the "Bride and Prejudice" video, we both saw an article about Rai at Yahoo.com news:

Top Bollywood Stars Get Engaged

By Krittivas Mukherjee Mon Jan 15, 7:52 AM ET

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Two of India's biggest cinema stars, Abhishek Bachchan and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, are finally engaged after months of feverish speculation about their relationship, their families said on Monday.

The hush-hush romance of Rai and Bachchan, the son of legendary actor, Amitabh Bachchan, had transfixed the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry, despite denials by the couple of sharing anything more than a healthy friendship.

On Sunday evening -- one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar -- Bachchan and Rai were engaged in a private ceremony in which Abhishek reportedly placed a diamond ring on his girlfriend's finger.

"No date for marriage has been fixed yet," the senior Bachchan told reporters, adding that his son had proposed to Rai in New York last week after the world premiere of their latest film entitled "Guru." The senior Bachchan said the two families will sit down and decide on the marriage date.

"Some members of the two families are not in town now. Let them come back," the father told Sahara television. "Every son's parents desire a daughter-in-law. We too will have a daughter-in-law and we are very happy."

TV channels and newspapers, however, said the marriage could take place as early as next month, with some suggesting February 19 or March 7 as possible dates. The Bachchan family has booked a top luxury hotel for these days, the reports said.

IN THE STARS

As news of the engagement spread, large crowds sang and danced through the night outside the Bachchan family home. Several Bollywood stars, top industrialists and politicians also visited the couple into the early hours of Monday to offer congratulations.

Rai and Bachchan left Mumbai shortly afterwards for a film shoot in the western state of Rajasthan. Members of the Bachchan family also left for the central Indian city of Ujjain to offer prayers at a revered temple, Indian television reports said.

Rai, 33, and Bachchan, 30, have worked together on at least five films, and both have been in the past romantically linked to other Bollywood stars. Bachchan was even engaged to Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor in 2002, but the marriage was called off.

Speculation of a romance gained ground after their families visited several temples over the past few months to pray for the two lovers whose stars were reportedly not in harmony, a key ingredient to any engagement in astrology-mad India.

As soon as the engagement was made official, television channels started airing positive predictions.

"This year is going to be very good and productive for him in which new developments are seen," astrologer Arun Sharma told NDTV channel. "Even for Aishwarya her stars are strong. But she will have to look after her dietary habits."

Sources close to the Bachchan family said they were keen to see the marriage take place soon as Abhishek's octogenarian grandmother was not in good health.

Rai, who has acted in over 40 films, was crowned Miss World in 1994. Bachchan junior too has acted in about 40 films.

Rai, who has been called the most beautiful woman in the world, evokes strong emotions in people - and certainly in India. She has been called a "goddess." Rai has also been accused of being - well, I'll use the term, a "loose woman." In December, 2006 a law suit was filed in India by a lawyer who claims he was offended by a kissing scene in Rai's film "Dhoom 2," and this suit may threaten Rai's lucrative career in Indian film. Yes, that's right - kissing. In India, kissing on the big screen is a big no-no and filmmakers and actors who step outside well-defined "decency" laws (enforced by a censor board) run the risk of being fined and worse.

Speculation and hints of an impending engagement and marriage between Rai and Bachchan were rife in the Indian press for months before the news was formally announced. The father of Rai's fiancé, Bollywood film producer Amitabh Bachchan, has worked with Rai on several projects. The upcoming marriage has no doubt broken the hearts of millions of Rai's devoted male fans around the world (much like Judit Polgar's marriage a few years ago broke the heart of countless male chess fans) and has sparked the ire and venom of at least one woman, Pakistanti film star Meera:

Rai will be a disgrace to Bachchans, says Meera

By Amir Mir Correspondent, published 25/01/2007

Lahore: Actress Meera has said Indian film star Aishwarya Rai - who is engaged to co-star Abhishek Bachchan - would prove to be such a stigma to the Bachchan family that could not be washed away even with the waters of Hindus' holy river Ganges.

Expressing her "concern and love" for Indian icon Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya and for their son Abhishek, Meera said yesterday that it looked like Aishwarya had played her cards well to get close to the Bachchan family.

"Let me predict today that Aishwarya would be such a mark of disgrace to the Bachchan family that could never be washed away even with the holy waters of the Ganges."

Wrong decision

Meera went on to add that the "young, innocent and simple-hearted fellow" (Abhishek Bachchan) had fallen for the wrong person.

"He has been trapped and has taken the wrong decision for the rest of his life.

"God knows what's wrong with the people in Pakistan who think so high of her [Rai] but in India, that girl has lost all respect for herself."

Meera pointed out that Rai had earlier been close to film stars Salman Khan and Viveik Oberoi.

"Isn't it strange that whosoever co-stars with her in one or two films, falls in love with the girl?"

Latest performance

Crediting Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam as Rai's best movies, Meera considers Rai's performance in her latest movies Shabd and Dhoom-2 as poor.

"She has been unreasonably vulgar in these movies. Although I don't think obscenity, as a requirement of the movie, is immoral. Yet Ms Rai has been unduly vulgar. She cannot come up to the mark of the likes of Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil."

The lady protests too much...(1) Meera and co-star (does anyone care what his name is?) from publicity still for "Nazar", right, photo from rewaj.com. "Vulgar" is in the eye of the beholder.

It would be fascinating to spend more time learning about the ins and outs of the Indian and Pakistani film industries and the competition and personal animosities among film superstars in the two countries, but the point of this article isn't the gossip (had you fooled, didn't I?) It is about chess. And so - back to the article --

Georgia suggested we write an article about Rai. I was enthusiastic because I admire Rai; but while Rai's honorific of "goddess" automatically qualifies her as an honorary member of Goddesschess, I thought we needed to demonstrate more of a connection between Rai and chess to justify an article. Somewhere, somehow, I reasoned, there must be a connection between the goddess Aishwarya Rai and Chess, the Game of the Goddess. And so, I set out on a journey to discover what I could from the deep, dark and dirty bowels of the internet. Board games scholars beware - what is reported here has almost ALL been discovered on the internet and thus is not fit to be seen by your eyes, because it has not come from books in a public library!!! So, scholars (you know who you are), STOP READING NOW.

I would not have believed it possible, but it's true: despite thousands of pages of information available on the internet about Rai I was not able to determine in a Rai interview that she actually plays chess! I looked and looked, and finally gave up. I am left with a thin thread only - there was some gossip awhile back that implies that Rai knows how to play chess. In an interview in April, 2004 reported at bollyvista.com, former Rai beau Vivek Oberoi (see Meera's rant, above) answered this question:

Is it true that you and Ash were playing chess and making the unit wait for both of you while shooting for KHGN in Scotland?(2)

It is a white lie. The day used to start at 3:30 am and end at 11:30 pm when we were shooting in Scotland. At times we used to work round the clock for as many as 16 hours. We were at the mercy of the lights there. Tell me where was the time to play chess when we had to complete the schedule and come back to Mumbai? I was pained when we were both dubbed unprofessional in spite of our having worked for 16 hours every day.

What I deduce from this quote is that while the crew and cast were shooting 16-hour days in Scotland there was no time to play chess (there was hardly time to sleep), but once everyone was back in Mumbai there was plenty of chess-playing going on.

Hmmm, not exactly enough information on which to hang a chess-related article. But, I found a new hook --

The term "six degrees of separation" was popularized in a play of the same name by John Guare in 1990 (made into a film in 1993). The concept is simple but also awe-inspiring - any two people anywhere in the world can be connected at most by six other people.(3)

Not sure if anything would result, I nonetheless went ahead and applied the "six degrees" concept in a slightly different way to see if I could connect Rai to chess. What follows is a sampling of the sometimes surprising chess connections I discovered.

Category I: Bride and Prejudice/Pride and Prejudice and Chess

The English Chess Federation website has a page on the all-female "Pride and Prejudice" chess team, composed of Maria Yurenok, Claire Summerscale, Sarah de Lisle, Heather Lang, Rosalind Kieran, Cathy Warwick (October, 2006). I love this particular connection!

In the 1985 BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice" (on VHS) starring Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet and David Rintoul as Fitzwilliam Darcy, there is a candle-lit scene that takes place at the Bennet homestead; it must be after Lydia has gone off to Brighton, because Mrs. Bennet is lavishing attention on a petulant Kitty, fitting a lace collar or inset around Kitty's dress, as Jane and Elizabeth embroider. Mr. Bennet is engrossed in reading a book and playing a game of chess - against himself. He reads a paragraph and makes a move; then he reads another paragraph and moves a piece on the other side.

2005's big-screen remake of "Pride and Prejudice" starred Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet. Knightley (get it - Knightley, ha ha ha) had her break-out role in 2002's "Bend It Like Beckham", directed by Gurinder Chadha. Chadha directed Rai in "Bride and Prejudice" and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film "The Mistress of Spices" also starring Rai.

Category II: Chess Players Who Are Aishwarya Rai Fans

There are more, probably; here are two:

Live chat at Chathurangam's website held on June 17, 2003 with GM Viswanathan Anand, he said that Ash is his favorite actress.

In an interview at The Hindu newspaper on November 29, 2000, GM Valery Salov, who was a commentator at the 2000 Chess Olympiad, comments that Rai is one of his favorite actresses.

Category III: Movie/Chess Connections to Aishwarya Rai

"Chess" (2004) is a suspense murder mystery starring Anupam Kher and Mahima Chaudhry. Kher played Rai's father in "Bride and Prejudice" and also co-starred with Rai in 2005's "The Mistress of Spices."

"Umrao Jaan" stars both Rai and her fiancŽ, Abhishek Bachchan. Rai plays the character Umrao, a courtesan and poet who uses the pen name "Ada". This is one of the verses written by Ada:

"Life for her was like the game of chess.
With the kings, the queens and the pawns.
The pawns were many, the queen just one - She!

In the upcoming movie "Jodha-Akbar" Rai plays the wife/empress of Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542-1605). Akbar constructed a large outdoor chessboard at his capital Fatehpur Sikri, situated 26 miles west of Agra, and it is said he played chess there with humans as his chess pieces.

Category IV: Rai Fans and Chess

At the Accenture website which actually includes a place where employees can host their own blogs, Ed Gottsman wrote this on January 12, 2006:

In April of 2005 (I'm still catching up on my reading), Sony patented a technique for using ultrasonic waves to stimulate various centers of the human brain in order to produce extremely high-fidelity sensory impressions. The idea is apparently to build really, really immersive environments for games.

So What?
The problem here is one someone once raised regarding Star Trek TNG's "holodeck." To wit: If I had a fantasy machine that powerful, I wouldn't spend my time matching wits with a simulated Sherlock Holmes--I'd spend it playing chess with Aishwarya Rai.

We would love to hear about and publish any "six degrees" connections between Rai and chess that you discover. Email us.

Footnotes:

(1) There is an old saying, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." While Meera said that Rai is vulgar and immoral for her "Dhoom 2" kiss, Meera herself was fined for kissing in a 2005 Bollywood film "Nazar." The lady is a hypocrite.

(2) "Ash" is a nickname for Rai. "KHGN" is shorthand for the movie "Kyon? Ho Gaya Na?" KHGN was directed by none other than Amitabh Bachchan, Rai's future father-in-law.

(3) The Wikipedia entry on "six degrees of separation" is fascinating.

Rai Biographical Information:

There are numerous Rai websites. I found a lot of my information here:

Biography at http://www.asiafinest.com/india/aishwarya-rai.htm

Biography, New York Times, at http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?
p_id=232903&mod=bio

Conventions:

Mughal is the spelling I have used in this article, but it is also variously spelled as Mugal, Moghul, etc.