Attending the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, popular Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan spoke about how her daughter, Aaradhya, began accompanying her to red carpet events, including the viral appearances at the Cannes Film Festival.
Aishwarya revealed that the tradition started as a simple "game of dress-up" when Aaradhya was much younger. Unable to explain the necessity of wearing fancy gowns for events, Aishwarya framed the process as a fairy tale to make it fun for her daughter.
She emphasized that it was never her intention to put Aaradhya in a gown specifically for professional photographs. She would take the trouble to get a special dress made for Aaradhya at home in India and pack it. Aishwarya described the behind-the-scenes moments as "completely entertaining," with Aaradhya twirling and playing while the professional team worked on her mother's look.
Aishwarya explained that the much-photographed Cannes red carpet appearance with Aaradhya was purely incidental. Aaradhya, still holding her mother's hand and enjoying the dress-up game, simply walked out with her: "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... and there she is and she’s like, ‘Mama,’ and she’s twirling.4 I’m like okay, and then all these moments go viral, whereas actually it was just Mama and daughter having their real moment."
Aishwarya chose not to stop the moment, wanting to continue the fun and "keep it real" for her daughter.
