It’s no surprise that Vivek Oberoi’s ex flame Aishwarya Rai didn’t show up at the IIFA Awards 2010 as her father-in-law himself had sidelined the show owing to protests and turmoil despite him being the brand ambassador.
But when a certain Salman Khan spat sarcasm at Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwaray Rai Bachchan for not supporting the people in times of adversity, Vivek directly defended them even boldly taking their names.
Speaking to the reporters, Vivek went outspoken and said,
“You have to respect the fact that people have work for which they sometimes cannot turn up at events. It happens to each one of us. I know everyone wanted to see the Bachchan family in Colombo. They are being missed by the people of Sri Lanka as well as by everyone of us. Abhishek and Aishwarya have a film up for release and, trust me, there is a lot of work and stress during a release (of Raavan). So, give them a respite. I’m sure they would be missing being here too.”

So, what prompted Vivek to go ahead and take such a strong stance for someone who has always cold shouldered him? People may call it a gimmick or a bold publicity stint (and it may very well be so) but more than that the likelihood points towards the theorem that he’s desperate to regain a warm cordial relationship with the biggies like Ash or Salman.
He has been trying to leave no stone unturned to salvage something out of his sinking career and, while I am typing this article out, he must be hoping that the Bachchan brigade do acknowledge and appreciate his gestures.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gave the IIFA awards a miss, instead choosing to attend the French open in Paris on Saturday. Dressed in a bright blue gown, the actress roamed the grounds at Rolland Garros, before sitting down to watch the womens’ final, sporting a hat, sunglasses, and casually waving a fan. Ash, who was accompanied by her parents Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai, did not stay till the end of the match.

Surprisingly, Ash got anything but a VIP treatment at the match — the cameras did not focus on her even once. “She wasn’t given any coverage… I saw the entire match,” posted a blogger afterwards. “They didn’t even show her on telly!” posted another.

Many also felt wearing a gown to a tennis match was hardly appropriate. “A gown at a sporting event? R u (sic) kidding me?” wrote fedfan, on Twitter. “Oh dear, she is poorly dressed. And, is it me or are her eyes looking droopy? Don’t like this look,” and “She’s wearing a full length dress to a game. lol,” were some of the other comments.

The big Khans of Bollywood – Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan [^], Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan [^] are not attending this year’s IIFA Awards function but Bollywood’s power couple Abhishek Bachchan [^] and Aishwarya Bachchan have managed to heat up Macau.Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya have arrived Macau for the 10th edition of IIFA Awards. The couple looked happy and excited. Abhishek even got hold of the video camera of one of the journalists and gestured to the onlooking fans. He said that the event would be fantastic.

Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of the IIFA Awards 2009. Actress Lara Dutta will host the awards ceremony along with Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh. Jackky Bhagnani, who is making Bollywood debut with Kal Kissne Dekha is going to perform at the event.

Aishwarya Rai looked gorgeous holding hands with hunky husband Abhishek Bachchan at the Mumbai airport before the couple jetted off to Macau, China, on June 10 for IIFA.

The airport was abuzz with excitement during the am hours with a huge number of Bollywood personalities leaving for IIFA. Others spotted at the airport included Anil Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Lara Dutta, Sonam Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Boman Irani, Arjun Rampal, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan and Tanavi Aazmi.

Aishwarya Rai paired a black satin puff sleeve top with dark blue flared jeans. She may have looked hot but she was prepared for the chill of business class jet travel– holding a tan leather jacket. She matched her accessories – tan leather tote and peeptoe platforms.

Her sunglasses rested on her head. Her gorgeous medium brown hair, styled in loose waves with a middle parting, framed her face cascading down the shoulders. She wore glossy pink lipstick, pink blush, cat-eye liner and lots of mascara.

Abhishek wore white body hugging full sleeve tee, dark blue jeans, black dress shoes and, tackily enough, more jewelry than his wife. He carried a black leather jacket.

While Aishwarya behaved like a seasoned celebrity flashing smiles to the photogs, Abhishek was more serious and aloof.

Aishwarya will recieve the IDEA IIFA award for outstanding contribution by an Indian in International Cinema. She will be one of the performers at the show along with Sonam Kapoor and Kareena KApoor.

The three day event, hosted by Ritesh Deshmukh, Lara Dutta and Boman Irani, will start on June 11 at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, and will include a performance by the world-famous Cirque de Soleil.

Aishwarya Rai is all set to dazzle audiences with her dance moves at the 10th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards night in Macau, China, next month – her second such appearance at the glamorous event.

She had enthralled audiences by dancing to hit song “Kajra re” at Amsterdam in 2005. She will perform at The Venetian-Macau Resort on the night of June 13, an IIFA press statement said. Aishwarya`s father-in-law, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, is the brand ambassador of IIFA.

Also performing at the event will be Sonam Kapoor, who will make her on-stage debut, and Kareena Kapoor, who will show off her belly dancing skills.

Bollywood actors Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh, who had the audience in splits with their humour.

At the awards last year in Bangkok, will play hosts to the glitzy cine event again in Macau. Joining the two would be beauty queen-turned-actress Lara Dutta.

The three-day IIFA Weekend will be held June 11-13 and is expected to draw over 500 luminaries from the Indian film industry. On why Macau was chosen as the destination for celebrating a decade of IIFA, the orhanisers said they hoped it would “end the deadlock between India and China over the exchange of cinema”.

“We feel it`s (Macau) the Las Vegas of the East. In this 10th year of IIFA`s existence we wanted either the US or China to be our venue,” said Sabbas Joseph, one of the directors of Wizcraft, the organisers of the event.

“We chose China because we feel it could be a gateway for Indian cinema to the West. We also hope to end the deadlock between India and China over the exchange of cinema. We haven`t come away from one venue without opening up doors for the India film industry. We are confident this would be the case in China,” he added.