‘Bade ghar ki thakurayin’: Aishwarya Rai breaks internet again with demure ‘Paro in 2025’ Cannes look

Aishwarya Rai once again has the Indian internet dwellers in a chokehold, thanks to her latest Cannes Film Festival outing. She attended the premiere of The History of Sound at the fest, flaunting a pristine white Manish Malhotra saree and enormous ruby necklaces. Her red sindoor popping and a regal train trailing behind her, Aishwarya reminded fans of someone special: herself.

Several fashion and Bollywood pages shared Aishwarya’s photos and videos from the red carpet on social media overnight, one of them being anonymous fashion watchdog, Diet Sabya. They wrote, very appropriately, “OH SHE BROUGHT THE MARTINEZ TO A SCREECHING HALT LMAOOO. Not a soul blinked. Waiters dropped trays. Champagne paused mid-bubble. Girls in archival Gaultier turned their heads. The girlies and the gays knew.”

Paro reincarnated in 2025?

And they knew, ‘mother’ was indeed ‘mothering’. The comments section was flooded with obsessed reactions for the ‘OG Kween of Cannes’. “Me entering my sasural dining table after waking up at lunch time,” someone very accurately visualised Aish’s queenly walk in the hotel lobby, in their own little domestic life scenario.

“Uffff! The face card never declined 🔥1000/ 10,” said a fan about the ‘most beautiful woman in the world’. “Brace yourself—to see MILs and bhabhis in gandi copies of this look next shaadi season,” predicted another.

Many comments had one common idea, this was Aish recreating her Paro from Devdas look with a 2025 update. The sindoor, the saree, the golden border, heavy jewels, the high contrast makeup all reminded fans of Paro in her ‘thakurain era’.

“Bade ghar ki thakurayan,” wrote a fan. “Roop bhi hai , Gun bhi aur daulat bhi,” someone brought back her perfect line from the movie. “The only chaand who has no daag,” another Devdas reference was dropped. And another, “Aaj se hum bhi zameendar honge, energy.”

“Paro after divorcing rich old Thakur,” someone was inspired to come up with an alternate ending to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2002 hit. In it, Aishwarya plays Paro, who falls in love with the son of a rich man, Dev. When his family rejects her, she is married off to another, older man, even richer than Dev and his family.

What’s happening in Cannes?

At the festival, Aishwarya was representing the cosmetics brand L’Oreal.

The 78th Cannes Film Festival is witnessing a significant Indian presence this year, with filmmaker Payal Kapadia being part of the main competition jury.

Bollywood icons Sharmila Tagore and Simi Garewal attended the world premiere of the newly restored version of Satyajit Ray’s 1970 classic Aranyer Din Ratri.

On Wednesday, director Neeraj Ghaywan presented his film Homebound at the film gala under the Un Certain Regard segment. He was accompanied by actors Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, and Vishal Jethwa as well as producer Karan Johar.