Aishwarya Rai talks Maha Kumbh with Dakota Johnson, reveals how viral Cannes red carpet look with daughter Aaradhya happened

Aishwarya Rai playing dress up with daughter Aaradhya

Aishwarya shared that it was never her intention to put Aaradhya in a gown for the purpose of being photographed and shared, “It wasn’t about, ‘Now let’s put Aaradhya in a gown because she’s going to get photographed’. No. For me, it’s a little girl, a little girl who’s reading or viewing fairy tale stories, right? So for me, it was the fun of playing dress up because why is Mama dressing up in these gowns? She’s a kid. She’s suddenly seeing a mother dressed in a gown with hair done. So I was like, ‘We’re playing fairy tale. We’re playing dress up’. So I would take the trouble to get a dress made at home in India itself and pack that all in.”

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Aishwarya said that if she ever chose to share the videos from those days, they would be “completely entertaining” and added, “I’d be getting ready for the red carpet but there’d be this other number happening which is so real. So while the team is trying to professionally do their job, there is Aaradhya like ‘Mama, look at this’ and there’s a twirl happening and all of that.”

She shared that during one of those days, it was just by chance that Aaradhya walked out with her at Cannes Film Festival, and was photographed. Aishwarya did not stop it either as she wanted to continue the illusion of playing dress up. “It was just one of those incidental days that she walked out with me because she was still holding my hand and I wouldn’t let go obviously because she was enjoying it. You keep it real. We continued coming down and then I was like, ‘Uh-oh, now we’re already out here,’ and there she is and she’s like, ‘Mama,’ and she’s twirling. I’m like okay, and then all these moments go vira,l whereas actually it was just Mama and daughter having their real moment,” she shared.

#AishwaryaRai G.O.A.T. ❤️🙇‍♂️👑🗺️🇮🇳🙏
Conversation with Aishwarya Rai at The Red Sea International Film Festival 2025
AV courtesy of https://t.co/S1KpPNjA0U pic.twitter.com/9N5LbAplrx

— Arijit Bhattacharya (@Aishusforever) December 5, 2025

Aishwarya Rai never wanted to be ‘launched’ in the movies

During the interaction on stage, Aishwarya shared that she has never felt insecure and that has never been a factor while making decisions in her career. “I don’t get insecure. I think that’s a very real aspect of who I am,” she shared and added, “Insecurities have never been a driving force, which, a lot of the voices around, can try and get in your head and can sometimes propel choices and that’s something that has never been me.”

She said that from the beginning, since she came into the movies after winning the Miss World pageant, she heard a lot of conversation about the “big launch” but that was never a priority for her. “I remember Mani Ratnam telling me Iruvar is not a launch film, it’s a movie, it’s a story, it’s not about launching Aishwarya and I was like, ‘That’s a movie I want to do because that’s a movie I want to be a part of’,” she said.

Aishwarya recalled that there was a lot of talk about what she would do after Devdas, as this was the biggest project of her career until then, but she chose to do a much smaller film immediately afterwards. “I remember after Devdas, when it felt like a crescendo and people were like, ‘What’s the next big film after that?’ Because how much bigger than Devdas can it become and I did Chokher Bali with Rituparno Ghosh. I was like what a beautiful story, that’s a movie I want to do.”

🎥 04.12 | Dakota Johnson junto a Aishwarya Rai Bachchan en la alfombra roja de la noche de apertura del Festival Internacional de Cine del Mar Rojo en Jeddah, Arabia Saudita. pic.twitter.com/nhUxaAtpMs

— Dakota Johnson Argentina Media (@DakoholicsMedia) December 5, 2025

Aishwarya Rai and Dakota Johnson share a moment on the red carpet

Aishwarya also met with Hollywood actor Dakota Johnson on the red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival. The two actors posed for photographers and could also be heard discussing Dakota’s last trip to India. Dakota was in India at the beginning of the year with her then boyfriend Chris Martin, while he was performing in India. They also visited Maha Kumbh Mela at the time. Dakota told Aishwarya, “We went to Maha Kumbh,” and to this, Aishwarya said, “You did that? Wow!”

Months after Dakota and Chris’ visit to India, the couple ended their on again-off again relationship of around eight years.