Aishwarya Rai slammed for failure to lose pregnancy weight
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Aishwarya Rai is no stranger to Cannes.
The Bollywood actor and former Miss World has attended the film festival 10 times, but her appearance on the red carpet next week is set to be her most talked about.
The cause of a controversy raging in India lies not with her latest film - Rai is there to promote a cosmetic brand rather than a new movie - but instead, bewilderingly, with recent photographs which suggest that, six months after giving birth to a baby girl, Rai has yet to regain her pre-pregnancy figure.
Many in India are asking whether the woman routinely referred to as the most beautiful in the world, and who occupies a place in Indian popular culture akin to Kate Middleton or Victoria Beckham, has an obligation to her fans to lose weight.
The criticism of Rai's post-pregnancy figure has been fierce.
"Aishwarya is like a goddess," said Showbusiness columnist Shobhaa De.
"She is held up as the ideal of beauty and so there is an expectation on her to look perfect at all times."
The image that sparked the storm in India showed Rai in the back of a car on her way to a party being thrown for the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, where Ban is believed to have asked her to be the global face of the UN's girl child campaign.
The Indian media, though, was less interested in the job offer than the fact that Rai looked like a 38-year-old woman who had recently given birth.
One website posted a video, complete with elephant sound effects, entitled "Aishwarya Rai's shocking weight gain", which has been seen more than 500,000 times.
"She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit," suggested one commenter.
Another added: "She needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery."
The criticism has started a debate about Bollywood's attitude towards women and motherhood.
"There is a glorification of motherhood in India and Indian cinema," said cinema professor Shohini Ghosh. "But people are confused because they don't know whether to glorify Aishwarya in her new motherhood or lament that she is not looking like a runway model."
India has long grappled with the question of what beauty means but in an age of global media - Indians are familiar with western celebrities and how quickly some of them appear to regain their pre-baby bodies.
"The role models being held up are Angelina Jolie and Victoria Beckham," said De. "But our body frames are different - we have wider hips and curves - so this whole business of looking desperately skinny two weeks after giving birth is a western import."
Aishwarya irrelevant ? she's still the Queen of Bollywood
You clearly dont watch Bollywood if you think shes anywhere close to relevant. Her last two movies flopped hard.
Katrina Kaif has been Bollywoods 'IT' Girl for the past few years, shes much more attractive too.
India is a hell of a lot more misogynistic than most Western countries, but is this any different than the way we treat our own celebrities? Jessica Simpson, anyone?
You clearly dont watch Bollywood if you think shes anywhere close to relevant. Her last two movies flopped hard.
Katrina Kaif has been Bollywoods 'IT' Girl for the past few years, shes much more attractive too.
She is overrated in pretty much every department; looks, dancing and acting
Deepika Padukone is probably one of the best looking out of the new gen actresses
And Anushka Sharma is one of the best actresses in the new gen
she's still the Queen of Bollywood 
