AISHWARYA Always Smiling

Abhishek Bachchan said his wife is uncomplicated and “always smiling,” in a newspaper interview published Wednesday, describing how he met and fell in love with Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai.

Bachchan and Rai were married in April in what Indian media dubbed “The Wedding of the Century” — an extravagant affair that had photographers and cameramen camped for days outside their homes in suburban Mumbai.

The two became friends when they worked together on the 2000 movie “Dhai Akshar Prem Ke,” but cupid didn’t strike until they filmed “Dhoom 2″ five years later.

Soon after Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, they were paired together again in Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) but it wasn’t till Aishwarya and he jived together to the beats of Kajra Re in Bunty Aur Babli, right under the eyes of dad Amitabh Bachchan, that the sparks began to fly. The romantic drama, Umrao Jaan, was supposed to be their big film together. When it hit the floors Abhishek and Aishwarya had not started dating, but well before its release they were known, though not acknowledged, to be an item. The film, though made with a lot of passion, failed to stir audiences and onscreen chemistry between the couple remained lackluster. Dhoom 2 shortly followed Umrao Jaan. Though Abhishek was not paired opposite Aishwarya the two spent a lot of time together on the sets and that seems to have done it. “We started dating in the latter half of the film as ‘Dhoom 2′ was shot for over a year-and-a-half,” he said.

“There are so many things I love about Aishwarya. She’s very human and unaffected and down-to-earth,” Bachchan told The Times. “A simple little girl who is always smiling and that’s very endearing.”

But he said it was difficult to pinpoint when he fell in love.

“There was no defining moment as such,” said Bachchan. “I cannot explain it in words.”