New Delhi: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the coveted Miss World title in 1994. She became the second Indian after Rieta Faria to be crowned Miss World. Reita Faria was crowned in 1966. The former beauty queen has in the past, spoken up about certain aspects of the competition that made her 'uncomfortable'. In an old press conference from 2017, the actor shared her feelings on the swimwear round in the competition.
Aishwarya shared that she had also spoken with the organizers of the tournament to remove the round completely. She said, "In fact, 1994 mein mere pageant ke baad (after my pageant), that year 1995 onwards hi unhone woh round cancel kar diya tha kyunke maine kaha ki it wasn't very naturally comfortable for some of us, nationalities. I wasn't speaking solely for myself, but I was really speaking for a lot of girls from countries where the swimwear round was not necessary... swimwear is not a natural way of life in terms of social display."
The Miss World organisation removed the swimsuit round from the competition ultimately in 2014 in order to focus more on 'brains and personality' instead of just physical beauty. At the time, Miss World chairwoman Julia Morley told Elle Magazine, "I don't need to see women just walking up and down in bikinis. It doesn't do anything for the woman. And it doesn't do anything for any of us."
Aishwarya made her debut with Mani Ratnam's Tamil film 'Iruvar' in 1997. She also made her Bollywood debut with 'Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya' co-starring Bobby Deol which was also released in 1997. Ever since then, Aishwarya has not looked back.
Aishwarya has starred in Tamil, Bengali, and Hindi films. She has also won critical acclaim for her work. The actor has also been awarded the Padmi Shri by the Government of India in 2009 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France in 2012. She has often been cited in the media as "the most beautiful woman in the world".