Aishwarya Rai

UK bookies have slashed the odds to 11/10 fav on Aishwarya Rai winning a coveted Bollywood ‘Oscar’ for Best Actress in a Leading Role in Dhoom 2 this weekend at the International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony in Sheffield.

The former Miss World recently married Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan who himself is now 5/4 fav to win an ‘Oscar’ for Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.

Best Picture nominations are Dhoom 2, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Krrish, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Rang De Basanti and Vivaah, with UK bookies goind 2/1fav on Dhoom 2 winning the prestigeous category.

Best Direction nominations are Karan Johar for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Rakesh Roshan for Krrish, Rajkumar Hirani for Lage Raho Munnabhai - which bookmakers rate at 5/2 favorite to win, Vishal Bharadwaj for Omkara and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra for Rang De Basanti.

And in the Best Male Performance category Shah Rukh Khan is a frim favorite to win at odds of 6/4 for his role in Don, followed by Hrithik Roshan in Krrish, Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munnabhai, Ajay Devgan in Omkara and Aamir Khan in Rang De Basanti.