Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's return to the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 was her first major international appearance since giving birth to her daughter Aaradhya in November 2011, and it generated, as her Cannes appearances invariably do, extensive coverage — though this time the coverage carried an undercurrent that said something revealing about how Indian and international media treat women's bodies after pregnancy.

She wore a Roberto Cavalli gown on the red carpet, and her look was widely discussed — by some admirers who welcomed her confidence and presence, and by a significant portion of media commentators who focused, with considerably less welcome, on the fact that she had not returned to her pre-pregnancy weight. The criticism, some of it quite direct, prompted a strong backlash from fans, fellow artists, and commentators who argued that a woman six months post-partum was under no obligation to meet any particular aesthetic standard, let alone do so for the entertainment of observers.

Aishwarya herself did not publicly engage with the criticism, which was consistent with a career-long pattern of handling intrusive commentary with something approaching strategic silence.

The episode was not really about fashion or a single red carpet appearance. It was about the specific, persistent, and genuinely oppressive pressure placed on famous women — and, by cultural osmosis, on all women — to have bodies that conform to commercial beauty standards at all times, including times when their bodies have done something as fundamental as growing and delivering another human being.

That her actual look was elegant and her presence assured was noted. That this was not the dominant conversation told its own story.