Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Bollywood's new royal princess

India's most famous couple - actress and model Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her actor husband Abhishek Bachchan - have had a baby girl. As the latest addition to one of a small number of acting and producing dynasties that dominate Bollywood, will she grow up to be an actress?

If the odds, or the genes, are to be believed, then the newly born daughter to the Bachchan-Rais is destined for the silver screen.

She might only be in the first week of her life, but being born into Bollywood royalty gives her a head start like no other.

Her mother is Aishwarya Rai, the face of L'Oreal, a former Miss World, who has starred in a number of Bollywood films.

Her father is Abhishek Bachchan, a Bollywood actor who is rarely far from the front pages of magazines.

Her grandmother is actress Jaya Bhaduri. And her grandfather is India's most famous man, Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood megastar whose career has spanned decades.

Blood is thick in Bollywood.

There are eight-to-10 prominent families who control at least 65% of the Indian film industry, says SMM Ausaja, a Bollywood historian and author.

The vast majority of the country's top acting talent is from a so-called "filmi" family, of either actors or producers.

Salman Khan, Kareena and Karishma Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Bobby and Sunny Deol are just some of the star names belonging to powerful Bollywood families.

Rise of the Kapoors

This genetic dominance began in the 1940s, when the old Bollywood studio system broke down says Ausaja.

Like the collapse of Hollywood star system, it meant film studios were no longer contracted to hire certain actors or manage their careers and paved the way for independent producers.

"The family element really came in because the producer preferred his own son to come in rather than somebody else," says Ausaja.

The beginnings of the biggest and most feted Bollywood family date from around this time, when actor and producer Prithviraj Kapoor helped launch his sons Raj, Shashi and Shammi Kapoor.

Raj Kapoor, who went on to become the most successful of the trio, later set up his own studio to launch the careers of the next generation of his family members, including his son, Randhir.

The big budget film Rockstar, which opened this week in India, stars the youngest of the Kapoor acting clan, Ranbir Kapoor.

"Yes I come from a film family and I've been brought up in a very cushioned environment, but I'm a working professional.

"I take credit for my success and I deal with my failures and I think that just makes you more mature as a person," he says.

Kapoor, who is one of Bollywood's men of the moment, told the BBC thatbeing from a dynasty didn't protect him from the challenges of the industry: "It's a jungle and you have to make a name for yourself," he said.

Bollywood's first families

1) The Bachchans - Amitabh and wife Jaya Bhaduri (pictured), Abhishek (held by mother), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

2) The Kapoors - Prithviraj, Raj, Shammi, Rishi, Randhir, Neetu Singh, Rajiv, Karishma, Kareena, Ranbir

3) The Deols - Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sunny, Bobby, Esha, Abhay



Family business


Of course having a big name, makes it easier.

This is also true in Hollywood which is home to acting dynasties such as the Redgraves, the Sheens, the Douglases and the Fondas, but Indian culture is a big reason why a few families dominate. More..

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