Bollywood couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan marked the seventh year of their formal union on 20 April.
The duo, who got hitched amidst much media buzz, tied the knot back in 2007.
It clearly was not a case of love at first sight, at least for the former Miss World. The pair first worked together in the commercial dud "Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke" (2000), when Aishwarya was understood to be with Salman Khan, while Abhishek was linked to Karisma Kapoor, who he got engaged to two years later.
While Aishwarya was linked to Vivek Oberoi, post her split with Salman Khan, Abhishek had been associated with Rani Mukerji, after his engagement with Kapoor was called off.
The duo went on to pair in "Kuch Naa Kaho" (2003), followed by "Umrao Jaan" and "Dhoom 2" (both 2006) and "Guru" (2007). It was widely speculated that romance blossomed between them, during the making of the last three films.
Abhishek reportedly proposed to Aishwarya in New York, right after the premiere of Mani Ratnam's "Guru", and they got engaged on 14 January 2007.
With Aishwarya being a South Indian belonging to Mangalore's Bunt community, and Abhishek hailing from the Bachchan family, their marriage ceremony witnessed the cross-cultural factor.
But prior to the couple's union, tabloids carried reports of tension in the Bachchan family, and reasons like the actress' onscreen lip locks, she being older than Abhishek and astrological issues came up. However, the speculations were proved wrong as the duo tied the knot in a grand ceremony on 20 April 2007, which only had selected invitees.
The couple then went on to star in Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar Raj" (2008) and Ratnam's "Raavan" (2010), post marriage.
Aishwarya gave birth to their daughter Aaradhya Bachchan in 2011, and has since then been on a sabbatical from acting.
There have been reports that Abhishek and Aishwarya are likely to reunite onscreen in Prahlad Kakkar's "Happy Anniversary", which has been touted as the actress' comeback film. However, recent reports claim that a Ratnam thriller made as a multilingual in the South languages will be her comeback film.
