Madhuri Dixit defends Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: 'Don’t reduce her to a number on a scale' amid Cannes 2026 trolling
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been a fixture at Cannes for over two decades
Another Cannes season, another wave of online chatter that had little to do with cinema and everything to do with appearance. This time, the discourse around Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s red carpet outing at the 2026 edition of the festival quickly veered into age-shaming and body-shaming comments across social media, drawing sharp pushback from within the film industry.
Aishwarya has been a Cannes fixture for over two decades, first walking the red carpet in 2002 for Devdas, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Since then, her annual appearances at the Cannes Film Festival have often become a global talking point, with fans and international media anticipating her arrival as much as the films being screened. Yet alongside the admiration, she has also repeatedly been subjected to online scrutiny over her looks, something that resurfaced again this year despite her long-standing status as one of India’s most recognisable global stars.
While Aishwarya herself has consistently chosen not to engage with such criticism publicly, several voices from the industry have stepped in to call out the negativity.
Among them is veteran actor Madhuri Dixit, who strongly defended Aishwarya’s legacy and rejected the reduction of her identity to superficial metrics. Speaking to PTI, she said:
“She has been going there (Cannes Film Festival) for 20 years. She has done the whole country proud. She is a global star. As a Miss World, she has done so much for the country. You cannot reduce her to a number on a scale, or a number on the dress, or the size or a number on the calendar years. You cannot reduce her to that. She is beautiful. She looks beautiful, and she is beautiful inside,” Madhuri stated during a conversation with news agency PTI.
She further stressed the larger social impact of such commentary, especially on younger audiences navigating ideas of self-worth in the digital age. “I think people have to realise that when you do these kinds of comments, what kind of message are you sending to the youngsters today? That your worth is based on how you look, not on your achievements. I think this is a completely wrong message being sent. Even earlier, there were people like that. But those who commented didn’t have a means to comment (back then). But today, they have the means.”
Madhuri’s remarks add to a growing chorus of support from within the industry.
A few days earlier, actor Kangana Ranaut also addressed the online trolling through her Instagram stories, defending the idea of fashion as self-expression and pushing back against criticism directed at women on the red carpet.
“Fashion and style is a self-expression. It is one’s own interpretation of life and one’s attitude. No woman owes anything to anyone. Ash looks great! Those of you who want to see her any other way, why don’t you show what you got?” she wrote.
She added, “She is not here to please you. She is glorious. If you are not used to seeing older women on red carpets, get used to them now. Thanks.”
