Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai Reuters

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is set to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the eleventh consecutive year, will reportedly be styled - for traditional Indian outfits - designed by Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla.

The actress will be present on 24 May and 25 May and will be seen in an off-white sari with antique gold embroidery and chikankari work. She will also wear a beige churidar set embellished with heavy zari work, according to a report in Hollywood Life. Her other costumes, it is rumoured, will be anarkalis (north Indian ethnic wear) in pastel colours. Initial reports suggested designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee would style her but those were later denied by the designer himself.

This is not the first time the Bollywood diva has opted for traditional attire in Cannes.

She wore a heavily embellished yellow sari for her first appearance, in 2002. That was accessorised with a gold necklace and bangles. The following year, she wore a green sari but was criticised for some aspects of her wardrobe, which were declared outdated. During the same visit she also wore a semi-western embellished lehenga, with a plain pink sleeveless top.

She turned heads, though, in 2010, when she wore a Sabyasaschi-designed sari with heavy embroidery and matched it with a contrastingly coloured top and styled herself to look, again, as traditional as possible. The star of an Indian remake of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is also the first Indian jury member at Cannes and will be accompanied, this year, by daughter Aaradhya and mother Vrinda Rai.

The 38 year old will attend the event as cosmetic brand L'oreal's brand ambassador and will also appear at the L'Oreal Paris - amfAR (The American Foundation for AIDS Research) dinner that will help raise funds for the fight against AIDS.

After Cannes, she will jet off to Monaco for the 17th Bal de l'Ete, scheduled from 22 June through 24 June and the theme of this event is - Princess of Rajasthan.

Finally, an earlier IBTimes UK report spoke of how the former Miss World has come under heavy criticism from across the world for failing to lose weight gained during her pregnancy. Aishwarya gave birth to Aaradhya in November.