'Brangelina' on Steroids: Indian Film Stars to Wed

Jan 17, 2007 — -- 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' [daughter-in-law]?"

Though Rai hasn't announced any changes to her career, rumors are rampant and history suggests it's possible.

Female Hollywood stars in the United States make headlines for the lurid details of their private lives -- obscene photos, sex videos and eating disorders.

In India, though, 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 values.

"The moment they get married, their life as a screen heroine is more or less over," said Gyan Prakash, a professor of Indian history at Princeton University.

The thinking, he said, is this: "Once you get married, how can you conduct on-screen romances?"

Rai's relationship with Bachchan has received so much coverage in the Indian media that the couple has earned the nickname "India's Brangelina."

Indians pay even more attention to their stars than Americans do.

"Bollywood stars are revered like gods," said Devika Chawla, a professor at the University of Ohio who researches marriage in India. "People follow them."

Time magazine named Rai one of the most influential people on the planet, and Bachchan hails from the most famous acting family in India.

Rumors of the engagement ran wild in recent weeks after their parents were spotted going to the temple together to seek blessings for the couple, whose horoscopes are said to be a mismatch.

Add to that the fact that Bollywood reaches an estimated 4 billion viewers per year, and the relationship starts to look more like Brangelina on steroids.

Though scrutiny of the Rai engagement has been intense, it is traditionally the on-screen personas of Bollywood stars that fans identify with, Prakash said.