This week, Indian movie star Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World, who is also one of the wealthiest women in India, announced her engagement to celebrity co-star Abhishek Bachchan, and all of India was abuzz.
Among the biggest questions: "Will she quit her acting career to become an obedient bahu (wife)?"
Though Rai hasn't announced any changes to her career, the rumors are rampant and history suggests it's possible. Female Hollywood stars in the U.S. make headlines for the lurid details of their private lives — obscene photos, sex videos, and eating disorders. But in India, the stars of "Bollywood" — the term used to describe the Indian movie industry — generally gain diva status for squeaky clean on-screen images and conservative off-screen values.
"The moment they get married, their life as a screen heroine is more or less over," says Gyan Prakash, a professor of Indian history at Princeton University. The thinking, he explained, is this: "Once you get married, how can you conduct on-screen romances?" |
