On Aishwarya Rai’s birthday, check out her memorable moments at Miss World 1994. The actor turned 50 today.

Miss World 1994, the 44th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held in November 1994 in Sun City, South Africa. 87 contestants from around the world competed for the title and Lisa Hanna of Jamaica crowned her successor Aishwarya Rai as Miss World 1994 at the end of the event. As Aishwarya celebrates her 50th birthday on November 11, we revisit videos of 21-year-old Aishwarya as she won the beauty pageant. 

Happy birthday Aishwarya Rai: Watch her Miss World 1994 videos.

Watch Aishwarya Rai’s winning moment

Aishwarya looked stunning in a one-shouldered white gown with embellishments as she won the Miss World 1994 pageant. She wore a pair of white gloves and styled her hair in a top bun. Before that, she walked the stage in a dark swimsuit.

Aishwarya’s answer that won her Miss World 1994

As a semi-finalist, Aishwarya was asked, ‘What qualities should Miss World 1994 embody?’ She had responded, ‘The Miss Worlds that we have had up to date have been proof enough that they have had compassion. Compassion for the underprivileged, and not only for the people, who have status and stature. We have had people, who can look beyond the barriers that man has set up – of nationalities and colour. We have to look beyond those and that would make a true Miss World. A true person, a real person.’

Commenting on a YouTube video of Aishwarya from the Miss World 1994 pageant, a person wrote, ‘I am a big Aishwarya Rai fan. She’s just amazing..’Another said, ‘She was the most beautiful woman ever in Miss World history… Such a beauty… God-gifted… Pride of India…’ One also wrote, ‘Beauty with brain… perfect answer by the most perfect Miss World…’

Aishwarya on her Miss World journey

In another throwback video from her Miss World 1994 days, Aishwarya introduced herself and spoke about her experience at the beauty pageant and what it was like representing the country on the world scale. She said, ‘Hi, I am Aishwarya Rai and I am from India. What I would say is really beautiful about India, besides the culture that we have, is that it is like we have the world in India. It is cosmopolitan, and we have so many religions in India. We have got so many races. So, it is an amalgamation of so many cultures, and so people have learnt to live together. And that in itself, I think, is incredible and beautiful.’

She added, ‘This experience (Miss World 1994) has been incredible. I know that I am going to look back and think that it is so strange that so many of us are from different countries, we have never met each other, and we are here and we have spent a month together. We have really made such good friends. But then again, I don’t know when we are going to meet each other in life again.’