France honours Bollywood's Rai Bachchan

Indian Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was to be honoured by France on Thursday, her birthday, with a prestigious civilian award for her contribution to the arts, the French embassy said. Ambassador Francois Richier was due to confer the honour of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) on Rai Bachchan at a hotel in the entertainment hub Mumbai. "This prestigious distinction comes in recognition of her invaluable contribution to the world of cinema and the development of Indo-French cooperation in cinema, art, and culture," a release from the embassy said. Rai Bachchan, who turned 39 on Thursday, took the Miss World crown in 1994 and made her acting debut in the late 1990s, going on to become one of the most famous Bollywood faces abroad as well as in India. A regular on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, she has starred in more than 40 mostly Indian films as well as few foreign movies, including The Pink Panther 2. She married fellow actor Abhishek Bachchan in 2007 and they had their first child in November last year. Her father-in-law, superstar actor Amitabh Bachchan, was awarded France's highest civilian award, the Legion d'Honneur in 2007. Reports said Rai Bachchan was supposed to receive her French award in 2009, but the honour was postponed because her father was ill. Then it was rescheduled for 2011 and was again put off due to the Mumbai bombings. In September Rai Bachchan was named as an ambassador for the United Nations AIDS agency, which tasked her with raising awareness to prevent HIV among children.