How did Aishwarya Rai marry Abhishek Bachchan [Throwback]

When Abhishek Bachchan tied the knot with Aishwarya Rai in 2007, many people had several questions in their minds of how these two decided to get married. While Aishwarya was involved with her then boyfriend Salman Khan, Abhishek was apparently engaged to Karisma Kapoor. Many people wondered how Aishwarya and Abhishek crossed each other's path, developed fondness and got married.

Interestingly, Aishwarya and Abhishek had met casually even before they worked together in movies like Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000), and Kuch Naa Kaho (2003). Abhishek had first met Aishwarya on the sets of Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) in which Abhishek's good friend Bobby Deol too was working.

During this time, Aishwarya was in a relationship with Salman. However, she called it quits because of Salman's abusive behaviour and got involved with Vivek Oberoi. Even this relationship didn't last long and Aishwarya was single again. On the other hand, Abhishek was engaged to Karisma but apparently, Jaya Bachchan was not in favour of their relationship and soon the news of the two breaking out of their engagement broke out.

Many people were of the opinion that the fire between Abhishek and Aishwarya was ignited after watching Aishwarya showing off her sultry moves in Kajra Re song from Bunty Aur Babli (2005). However, the two started getting close together when they worked together in movies like Umrao Jaan, Guru and Dhoom 2 over a period of one and a half years.

It is being said that Abhishek was totally smitten by Aishwarya's infectious smile and simple nature. And finally after the premiere of Guru in Toronto, Abhishek proposed to Aishwarya to marry him. And Aishwarya, who had also developed enough affection towards Abhishek and got to know about him as a person, she nodded her head with a yes.

"I was filming in New York for a movie. And, I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that, 'One day, wouldn't it be nice if I was together with her, married. Years later, we were there for the premiere of Guru. After the premiere, we were back in the hotel. So, I took her to the very same balcony, and I asked her to marry me," Abhishek Bachchan had revealed in an old interview.

On the other hand, Aishwarya had said that Abhishek had proposed to her for marriage while they were shooting for Guru. She also recalled that Abhishek had used a studio prop to propose and didn't come up with a diamond ring. After the proposal, the two got engaged and got married in an intimate Mangalore style wedding ceremony with big names of Bollywood and politics in attendance.

Aishwarya and Abhishek have now completed 12 years of marriage and are proud parents to their 8-year-old daughter Aaradhya.