It's a blemished, slightly creased photo, scanned and cropped from the pages of a Bollywood movie fan magazine circa 1999. It seems like yesterday, then again it feels like ages ago. The photo is from the Autumn of 1999, the season of Aishwarya Rai, when she transformed from yet another beauty pageant queen trying to make it in films, into the new face of Bollywood.

It had been four years since Ash had walked away with the Miss World title in 94' and she had made a handful of not so memorable films that failed at the box office. She was seen as maybe the most beautiful of the newcomers but she was fast becoming deemed as another flash in the pan.

Then in the span of two months two films staring Aishwarya were released "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" on June 18th and "Taal" on August 13th. The two films were runaway hits and became the number one and two top grossing movies of the year. 6 months later at the Filmfare Awards, Ash won the Best Actress prize for her work in HDDCS.

Suddenly Ash was being touted as the hottest actress working in Bollywood.

"Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" was a lavishly produced classic by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was the most opulent, artistic, and excessive Bollywood film of the 1990s. The film was nominated for 15 Filmfare awards and won in 7 categories including "Best Picture" and "Best Actress" for Aishwarya Rai.

The second movie "Taal" was actually a more popular film with the masses than HDDCS. It topped the charts as the number one Bollywood film of the year. "Taal" was nominated for a record 17 Filmfare Awards and walked away with 6. Subhash Ghai directed this Aishwarya Rai vehicle that featured her in no less than 7 musical numbers in the whole range of Bollywood dance themes from traditional wedding number to dancing wet in the rain to Western stage extravaganza to elegant music video. Ash was the true attraction of this actually mediocre Bollywood entertainer. In a film that shows her at her most beautiful she elevated "Taal" into not only a blockbuster hit but also a film of memorable sublime musical moments.

Aishwarya had in the space of one short season attained a new level of stardom and become elevated to one of the handful of Bollywood actors that define the genre. Ash has certainly become omnipresent and a legend in her own time. One can barely believe that at the beginning of 1999 she was just another star on the horizon.

There are defining moments in the history of Bollywood. One thinks of Raj Kapoor and Nargis in "Awara". Amitabh Bachchan and 'the angry young man' phase. The release of "Sholay" in 70mm widescreen and stereo sound. The release and popularity of DDLJ. I can't really claim that the fall of 1999, the season of Aishwarya Rai is as epic as the milestones I mentioned above, but who knows? In the way that things are remembered and celebrated, only time will tell.