Abhi-Ash romance revisited

Tracing Bollywood’s starry fairy tale

• Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan have been doing movies together since 2000. Their first movie was ‘Dhai Akshar Prem Ke’. 
• Abhishek was struggling then and was engaged to Karisma Kapoor. The engagement was eventually called off.
• Rumours of the Abhi-Ash romance started spreading after they worked in ‘Bunty Aur Babli’. In this movie, Ash, Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan appeared in the cult item song ‘Kajra Re’. The trio even performed this number at the IIFA in Amsterdam in 2005.
• Rumours of their marriage gained momentum when Amitabh’s  younger brother, Ajitabh Bachchan consulted astrologer Chandrashekhar Swami in Bangalore with their horoscopes in January 2006. 
• The astrologer had predicted that the two would get married in 2007. 
• On Abhishek’s birthday in February 2006, Aishwarya was treated as a special guest.
• In 2006, Ash and Abhi shot for many films together. Their romance flourished on the sets of ‘Umrao Jaan’ in Jaipur.
• Whilst shooting for Mani Ratnam’s ‘Guru’, the duo, oblivious to media attention, visited the cancer ward of a local hospital and spent time with the children. 
• Just after their return from IIFA in Dubai the two were spotted at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai where they watched two films— ‘Impossible 3’ and ‘X Men 3’, back to back.
• Ash and Abhi were accompanied by six bodyguards. The two were also seen eating fast food at the city’s Subway outlet.
• During the shooting of Mani Ratnam’s film ‘Guru’, rumours suggested that Ash and Abhishek had gone to the Madurai Meenakshi temple to seek blessings. 
• Three days after ‘Dhoom 2’ was released, the two offered prayers at the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi.
• Eventually, the two got engaged on January 14 (Makar Sankranti),  after Abhishek proposed to Ash post the premiere of ‘Guru’ in the US.
• The period between their engagement and their impending marriage, saw the duo enjoying each other’s company.
• Abhishek, who was filming a song sequence for Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sholay’ at ND Studios in Karjat, was seen giving company to Ash (as she shot for Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Jodha Akbar’) all day long. He not only parked himself at Ash’s cottage but even got homemade food for the actor. He would religiously wait for Ash so that they could have lunch together. Abhishek would get vegetarian food as Ash was observing a fast. Ash’s mother, Vrinda Rai, would pack a typical Tulu dabba including kori roti and sabzi. 
• Recently, the couple was seen performing at the Zee Cine Awards in Malaysia.