Aishwarya: Bachchan voice

Calcutta, Oct. 15: Aishwarya Rai is not only the perfect Bachchan bahu, she is also the Bachchan brand ambassador.

“He’s recovering. Thank you for your wishes,” she text messaged The Telegraph late last night.

The smiley between the two sentences underlined that father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, in hospital with suspected incisional hernia, was indeed recovering.

In April last year, when the Bachchans were hosting the grand Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding, Ash was the only one responding to messages, thanking everyone for their good wishes.

Over the 18 months that have followed, Aishwarya has become the face — and voice — of Bollywood’s first family.

She was their best option anyway. Amitabh himself has had a love-hate relationship with the media, having boycotted it over a couple of decades, and now communicates only through his blog. Abhishek has been a recluse right through and only talks about his films when they are nearing release. And every time Jaya has spoken, it has made noise for all the wrong reasons.

On Friday night, when Amitabh complained of stomach pain, Ash left the second schedule of director Shankar’s Robot midway in Goa and rushed back to be with her “Pa”. She was at Nanavati and then at Lilavati hospital the next morning.

Late last year, too, when Amitabh’s mother Teji Bachchan died, Ash had chosen family over films.

In an interview a couple of weeks back, Aishwarya said: “I had never taken a holiday in my career before but I took one late last year because I knew that grandma was critical and wouldn’t live for long. I wanted to be around.”