When one is as beautiful as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the world holds its breath to admire your face.
And Bollywood's most attractive star has one helluva silky, sexy back too.
Ash, who turns 42 on November 1, has flaunted this gorgeous feature on quite a few occasions to scorching effect.
Here's a look at the birthday girl's HOTTEST backless avatars on and off screen.
Although Aishwarya's Cannes outing as jury member was a fashion mishap, the actress has since put it all behind and sparkled year after year.
Photograph: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
Ash in a sequined, strapless Armani Privé is EXACTLY what we're talking about.
Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Just how swell is Ash swaying her curves in Neeta Lulla's creative, National award-winning costumes in her film Taal?
The lissom beauty lets her hair down for A R Rahman's lively Barso track in Mani Ratnam's critically-acclaimed Guru.
Another year in Cannes? Another smouldering backless number from Armani for our dear Ash!
Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Long before the chikni Chamelis and mischief Marys took over Bollywood, Aishwarya rocked a backless choli and mini lehenga to shake booty along side Shah Rukh Khan in an item song of Shakti: The Power.
Most people were left cold after watching the movie adaptation of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Mistress of Spices but Aishwarya's lovemaking sequence with co-star Dylan McDermott on a bed of red chilies is definitely on the hotter side.
Apart from Rajnikant's exciting delivery as a Robot in Shankar's film of the same name, there's a super glamorous Ash adding oomph to the proceedings.
The light-eyed Bachchan bahu burns the floor with family members -- hubby Abhishek and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan -- for her red-hot item song Kajra re in Bunty Aur Babli.
Did you know she starred opposite Govinda in a film named Albela starring fellow Femina Miss India Namrata Shirodkar? It was a big flop except for its lilting songs, one of them featuring a stunning Ash in a purple halter neck gown.
Ash is a picture of seduction and grace as the widow who refuses to suppress her sexual needs in Rituparno Ghosh's adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's Chokher Bali.
A skinny Ash romps around Ajay Devgn around a typically David Dhawan brand of scatter-brained scenario in Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.
Dhoom 2's highlights were its good-looking couple -- a sculpted Hrithik Roshan, a tanned 'n' toned Aishwarya -- and their torrid chemistry. Catch a glimpse of her mercury-raising moments from the cops and crooks franchise.
The star did not take the bikini route like her younger colleagues Kareena Kapoor or Deepika Padukone. Except the one time she slipped into a one-piece to serenade Akshaye Khanna in Rishi Kapoor's Aa Ab Laut Chalein.
