Aishwarya Rai Bachchan denied Award due to Mumbai Blasts

Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was to be honored on Wednesday for her work promoting cinema links between India and France, the French embassy said.
The award, on the eve of France's national day, was "a recognition of her contribution to the world of cinema and to the development of Franco-Indian co-operation in the film industry", the embassy said.

Mumbai serial blasts took place just about an hour before the Bachchan family was to attend the felicitation ceremony of the Chevalier dans lOrdre des Arts et des Letters (French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) at the Taj Palace on Wednesday. 

Indian film actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan observes a minutes silence, for bomb blast victimes in Mumbai, during a function to honour her with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters Award of France in New Delhion July 13, 2011. 

 
Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, who was to be conferred with the title, refused the honour. This is the second time Rai-Bachchan has refused the award — the first was in 2008 due to her father’s illness.