Bollywood's Bachchan, Rai officially engaged

Indian movie stars Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, hailed as Bollywood's equivalent of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are officially engaged.

Reports from India say Bachchan's father, film icon Amitabh Bachchan, confirmed that a private ceremonytook place Sunday night at his residence in a suburb north of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay).The 33-year-old actress's personal secretary echoed the news.

The impending nuptials had been much talked about in entertainment and gossip circles, reaching a peak when the couple appeared in Toronto on Thursday night for the premiere of their new film, Guru.

It was a landmark screening reportedly the first Bollywood premiere ever held outside India.(Bollywood is the name given to Mumbai's prolific film industry.)

The event was covered widely in the Indian and North American media, with 1,200 screaming fans waiting for hours outside the Elgin Theatre downtown to catch a glimpse of India's hottest stars.

"It's wonderful to come here in person and actually premiere a movie, you know, mainstream," said Rai at the Toronto event.

A report by the Press Trust of India says the engagement was attended by family members and close friends of the two stars, only hours after they returned from New York where they were promoting the film with Guru director Mani Ratnam.

In a half-hour ceremony, Bachchan, who turns 31 on Feb. 5, put a ring on the finger of Rai to indicate their engagement. No date has been set.

Bachchan and Rai have previously starred together in other films.

Rai has been romantically linked in the past to actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi.

Rumours started to rumble about the former Miss World and her new man when the couple performed rituals at a Varanasi temple in November 2006 along with Bachchan's parents.