Aishwarya at Cannes on Thursday. (Reuters)

The first time I met Aishwarya Rai was in 1994 at the headquarters of the Miss World organisation in Golden Square, Soho. It was the day after the 21-year-old then-unknown model had won the title in Sun City in South Africa and been flown overnight to the UK.

She sparkled, had a good sense of humour and even then I had a hunch she would do well.

Since then, I have seen her at regular intervals. In 2002, she and Shah Rukh Khan walked the red carpet in Cannes when Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was accorded a prestigious official screening though out of competition. They made a glamorous pair — Shah Rukh, in black tie rakishly loosened and holding a cigarette (some things don’t change), and Aishwarya, looking ethereal in a yellow sari.

They knocked the spots off the best of Hollywood.

Aishwarya was invited to be on the main festival jury in 2003. She did a photocall on the beach with Gurinder Chadha to announce her 2004 film, Bride and Prejudice. In 2006, Aishwarya was present when the late Jagmohan Mundhra’s Provoked had its first screening in Cannes — I sat behind Aishwarya and Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the abused Sikh wife whom the actress portrayed in the film.

Aishwarya more or less abandoned the sari when she became a L’Oreal girl and a regular at Cannes. Though Freida Pinto and Sonam Kapoor have followed her, she was the first Indian to be a brand ambassador for the French cosmetics firm.

That is when the carping began back in India with her critics arguing her choice of outfits did not represent Indian womanhood or fashion. On most occasions, when she appeared on the red carpet, her clothes were picked by L’Oreal stylists, anyway.

Last year, she announced she would be doing Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine. Then came the falling out when she got back to India and announced she was pregnant.

What is remarkable and totally unexpected is the vehemence with which the Daily Mail, in some ways Britain’s most influential newspaper in terms of setting trends, has taken up the cudgels on Aishwarya’s behalf.

“Baby weight or not, the Bollywood actress, 38, lived up to her title of ‘the world’s most beautiful woman’ in a gold embroidered sari and co-ordinating tailored jacket with Mandarin collar,” the Daily Mail declared after her Cannes appearance at a charity event yesterday.

The paper waxed eloquent: “Her hair was piled high on her head and adorned with a slender gold band, while her makeup was understated save the dark eyeliner around her eyes.”

It summed up: “She may have been criticised in her native India for not losing her baby weight fast enough, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan looked nothing short of dazzling at the AmfAR Cinema Against Aids gala in Cannes.”

It did not duck the issue of the not-so-flattering picture of Aishwarya taken in a car. It said that “an unfortunate recent photograph that captured her with a double chin, sparked a flurry of cruel criticism, with some suggesting that she has a ‘duty’ to her fans to regain her pre-pregnancy figure”.

It gave examples of some of the unkind comments made about her. “She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit,” one said. Another added: “She needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery.”

It is again remarkable that nearly all readers who have reacted to the article have spoken out in Aishwarya’s favour.

“Without a doubt, that is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, at BOTH weights. Twigs like Angelina Jolie and Victoria Beckham don’t hold a candle to her,” wrote Danielle from the US.

Iris from California had this to say about the double-chin picture: “That picture of her on a bad day? Seriously? How many here would give their eye-teeth to look that good on our BEST day. She is stunning. She always was, and always will be and to keep weight on after her baby’s birth, that’s not a sin!”

A possible reason why the Mail has been so exercised about Aishwarya’s figure is that the paper considers the question of the baby bump and the speed with which pregnant women recover their shape post-birth slightly more important than, say, the euro crisis or the possibility of war with a nuclear Iran.

Today, in the world of celebrities, there is no business like the baby bump.

Back in 1991, Demi Moore created a major frenzy when she bared her baby bump — and much else — on the cover of Vanity Fair.

“The shot that ended up being on the cover wasn’t even done for the magazine,” the actress, now 49, told a magazine in 2008. “(The photographer) Annie (Leibovitz) called, we kind of joked, and I said it would be amazing if they would do this on the cover.”

Recently, even The New York Times treated the subject of “the baby bump” with all the earnestness it deserved.

“Jessica Simpson, the one-time pop star, had her first and last Top 10 hit more than a decade ago, with I Wanna Love You Forever. But that didn’t stop Elle magazine from putting her on its April cover (naked and pregnant, in an echo of the often-imitated 1991 Vanity Fair cover photo of Demi Moore) nor People magazine from splashing pictures of her baby shower over several pages,” it began.

It mentioned two other actresses — Tori Spelling, who “had a short career in made-for-TV movies and an even shorter one in feature films”, and Bethenny Frankel, a former contestant on a reality show.

“What do they all have in common?” asked The New York Times. “They have found, to be blunt, that motherhood pays. In the last few years, salaries for movie stars have plummeted, record sales have tanked and roles in scripted dramas are going the way of the IBM computer. Yet for a growing number of underemployed actresses, singers and would-be entrepreneurs, parenthood has become a viable Plan B.”

It quoted Peter Grossman, the photo editor of US Weekly, where he has negotiated six-figure cover deals with many celebrities and their cuddly offspring: “Being a celebrity mom has more business opportunities than ever before.... The value of a celebrity mom has never been higher.”

In the UK, Elizabeth Hurley certainly plays up to the “yummy mummy” image at the age of 46. She even claims to be “mummy two” to boyfriend Shane Warne’s children.

Having sold their baby bump pictures to the high bidder, the next step for many is to regain the pre-pregnancy figure as quickly as possible. Here, Victoria Beckham appears to have stolen a march on others.

The Daily Mail, which has its finger on many a belly button, metaphorically speaking, reported in March: “She (Victoria Beckham) wowed fans with her incredible post-baby figure at New York Fashion Week just eight weeks after giving birth to her fourth child.... The 37-year-old told Vogue US that after giving birth to Harper Seven in July last year she began a fitness regime which involved running six times a week.”

It is unlikely Aishwarya will be seen jogging along Marine Drive. Nor does she need to. A tubby Aishwarya may ironically win even more supporters in the West.

Enke from London wrote to the Mail, calling Aishwarya “a true beauty – classy, elegant, regal. And to top it all, a real woman — a new mother not ashamed of motherhood’s attendant physical change... motherhood suits her! Sorry but no Hollywood star can match this one. Aishwarya is unique.”

Now that the Mail has taken an interest in Aishwarya, it will be even more interested in another Indian woman much better known to the Brits: Shilpa Shetty, winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2007. Meanwhile, one has to be grateful for small mercies. As far as one knows, Mallika Sherawat is not with a bump.