Amid a storm of media hype, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gave birth in a Mumbai suburb Wednesday morning (late Tuesday in the U.S.) to a girl.
Husband and new father Abhishek Bachchan announced the news via his Twitter from his iPhone at about 10 a.m. Indian Standard Time (about 11:30 p.m. EST), saying, "IT'S A GIRL!!!!!! :-)))))" He later added, "Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. Both Aishwarya and the baby are doing great and taking some much needed rest.... And I'm trying my level best to get rid of this caffeine high and get some sleep too. Don't think it'll work. TOO EXCITED!!!!"
The initial announcement was followed quickly by tweets from Amitabh Bachchan via Blackberry saying, "I AM DADA to the cutest baby girl !! ... A dada ji ... Ecstatic !!!! ... thank you all ..!" ("Dada" is the Hindi word for paternal grandfather.) The elder Bachchan first broke the news of Rai's pregnancy via Twitter in June, setting off the initial media frenzy.
Twitter erupted with congratulations moments after the birth announcement and continued to do so — "#BabyB" and "Ash's baby" were still trending in India at least 12 hours after the announcement. Abhishek Bachchan replied to several congratulations from fellow Bollywood celebrities via Twitter. Some included producer-director Karan Johar, who tweeted, "Congratulations!! Baby B had a baby girl!! @juniorbachchan!!! All the love and happiness...am sure she will be the prettiest girl ever!!!" Prolific actor Anupam Kher tweeted, "CONGRATULATIONS @juniorbachchan and Ash. So so Happy. May the new arrival in the family bring more happiness, joy and peace. Love.:)" Actor Shahrukh Khan tweeted, "@juniorbachchan how beautiful is this feeling. Allah bless u and Aish. Dying to come & see the three of u...YAY!!!! Now u really r PA lov u."
And Baby Bachchan already has the attention and expectation of the Bollywood world riding on her. In June after the initial pregnancy announcement, The Wall Street Journal's India Real Time blog termed Baby Bachchan "Bollywood's first celebrity baby." Today, a writer for BBC called the baby "Bollywood's new royal princess."
As I mentioned previously, Rai's pregnancy and delivery have drawn coverage of Hollywood hype proportions even though the Bollywood media generally ignore star children. The coverage has been so much that prior to the birth, India's Broadcast Editors' Association unusually formed a 10-point code of conduct specifically governing coverage of Rai's delivery. To this, Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, "As I travel back from the hospital I need to thank the media for keeping their word of not intruding our privacy. Deeply obliged !"
Focus has now shifted to the baby's name, as traditional Hindu practice is to wait a few days after the birth for a namkaran (naming) ceremony conducted by a priest. Earlier, bookies took bets reportedly totaling some 150 rupees crore ($30 million) for guessing the date Baby Bachchan would be born.
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