Early career (1997–98)
Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil biopic film Iruvar (1997), where she worked alongside Mohanlal.[21] The film was a critical success and won many awards, including Best Film award at theBelgrade International Film Festival,[22] and two National Film Awards.[22]. Rai appeared in dual roles, one of which was a depiction of political leader and former actress J. Jayalalithaa.[23] Rai made her Bollywooddebut in the film in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, opposite Bobby Deol, which released the same year; the film was unsuccessful at the box office.[24] Her third project, Jeans (1998), a high-budget Tamil film directed by S. Shankar, was a commercial success. The film included the song "Poovukkul", written by Vairamuthu, in which Rai's character is compared to the seven wonders of the world and described as the eighth.[25][26] The film was India's official entry to the Academy Awards in that year.[27]
Success (1999–2002)
In 1999 Rai starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, opposite Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan.[28] The film had Rai playing Nandini, who is forced to marry Devgan despite being in love with another man (Khan). Her husband tries to help her locate her previous love, and his caring attention eventually wins her over. Rai's portrayal won her critical acclaim, with a review on Rediff.com stating, "Aishwarya looks beautiful as usual ... This film will most likely draw her accolades from all over, may be even get her recognised as an actress the way Manisha Koirala did in Khamoshi. In many scenes, there is no trace of makeup and she looks very fresh".[29] The film was her first box office success in Bollywood, and earned her a Filmfare Best Actress Award.[30]
In the same year she appeared in Subhash Ghai's Taal,[31] in which she played Mansi, a young village woman who becomes a big pop star after being hurt by her lover, played by Akshay Khanna. The film was an average grosser in India but was a big success outside India, especially in the United States, where it became the first Indian film in the top 20 on Variety's box office list.[32] Her performance was praised, with a reviewer from Rediff.com writing, "After being praised for her looks and acting talent in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Aishwarya has excelled in Taal. She looks ethereal and unlike the former film, has a very sober and soft role. Though she looks pained and tragic in most of the film, she does a good job of a woman who is very protective of her father and one who doesn't think twice before rejecting a lover who has insulted her father."[33] She received another Best Actress nomination from the Filmfare Awards for her work in the film.[34]
In 2000 she appeared in Mansoor Khan's Josh alongside Shahrukh Khan and Chandrachur Singh, in which she plays a Catholic named Shirley who falls in love with the sibling of her brother's enemy.[35] The film was a commercial success.[36] Later that year she appeared in Satish Kaushik's Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, opposite Anil Kapoor. It was a moderate success, and her performance earned her a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination.[37] Later that year she played a supporting role in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. The second-highest grosser of the year, the film was a major commercial success, and earned her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award nomination.[37][38] Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, alongside Mammooty, Ajith Kumar, and Tabu.[39]
In 2002 Rai appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name.[40] She played the role of Paro (Parvati), the love interest of the protagonist, played by Khan. The film received a special screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[41] It became the highest-grossing film of the year in India and overseas, earning a revenue of Rs 390 million domestically.[42][43] Devdas won numerous awards, including 10 Filmfare Awards, and Rai received her second Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance.[44]
Setback (2003–05)
In 2003 she acted in Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film Chokher Bali, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name.[45] She portrays the character of a young woman called Binodini,[46] who is left on her own when her sickly husband dies soon after they are married.[47] That year she appeared in the Bollywood film Dil Ka Rishta, with Arjun Rampal, and Rohan Sippy's Kuch Na Kaho, alongside Abhishek Bachchan,[48] neither of which fared well at the box office.[48][49]
In 2004 she appeared alongside Martin Henderson in Bride and Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha's Bollywood-style English adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She played Lalita Bakshi, the film's version of Austen's character Elizabeth Bennet. Based on 131 reviews, the film has a rating of 64 percent at the review website Rotten Tomatoes.[50] She played a negative role for the first time in Rajkumar Santoshi'sKhakee, which also featured Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, and Jayapradha. In the same year she worked with director Rituparno Ghosh for the second time, in Raincoat, where she starred alongside Ajay Devgan. The film was highly acclaimed by critics, with Rai receiving rave reviews for her performance.[51]
In 2005 she appeared in Shabd, a film based on a love triangle, alongside Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan. The film was unsuccessful at the box office; it received average reviews from critics.[52] Her next release wasPaul Mayeda Berges's The Mistress of Spices, based on the novel of the same name by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,[53] in which she starred alongside Dylan McDermott.[54] The film received negative reviews from critics,[55] and was a commercial failure.[56] The same year she made a special appearance in a hugely popular seven-minute dance sequence for the song "Kajra Re", with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, in Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli.[57]
Recent work (2006–present)
In 2006 Rai portrayed the title role in J P Dutta's Umrao Jaan, the story of a courtesan and poetess from 19th-century Lucknow. The movie is the second adaptation of theUrdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Rai's work received mixed reviews, and the film was a critical and commercial failure. Critics particularly felt the new version is poor when compared to the acclaimed 1981 version by Muzaffar Ali, which starred Rekha in the title role. BBC critic Poonam Joshi wrote, "While only Aishwarya could emulate the grace and poise of Rekha, she doesn't quite capture the intensity of Umrao's abiding melancholy", commenting that "her incandescent beauty and artistry... does indeed keep the audience watching, though not necessarily emotionally engaged."[58] Later that year she appeared as a master thief, Sunheri, in the Yash Raj Films production of Dhoom 2, directed by Sanjay Gadhvi. The ensemble cast included Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, and Uday Chopra. The movie was a blockbuster, and became the highest grossing film of the year in India, earning revenues of over Rs 770 million domestically.[59] A controversy arose regarding a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan.[60] Rai's performance received mostly negative reviews, with a reviewer on Rediff.com writing, "Ash's character too is all gloss and no depth. You seldom feel any tension in her behaviour and expressions as she accompanies the master thief on potentially dangerous missions. Sunehri enters the film nearly 50 minutes after its opening in a disguise. In no time, she is wearing the flimsiest of clothes. Once she opens her mouth—and she does it two minutes after appearing in the film—she spoils the image. There is no sensuality any more, and half an hour later, one wonders what made the master thief fall for her."[61] Nonetheless, her performance earned her a sixth nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award.
In 2007 she appeared in Mani Ratnam's Guru as Sujata. Speculated to be based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, it is a rag to riches story about an ambitious small-town man who ends up as the owner of the biggest corporation in India. The film premièred at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, the first Indian film to have a mainstream international premiere in that country.[62][63] The film was critically acclaimed, and performed well at the box office.[64] Critical reception for Rai was mixed. While Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India wrote that she is "just okay, and fails to register the growth in her character", Rediff.com's Raja Sen described it as "arguably her finest performance, visible especially when she takes over the film's climax."[65][66] Rai received her seventh Filmfare nomination for Best Actress for her performance. In the same year she starred alongside Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson in Jag Mundhra's British film Provoked, as Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an Non-resident Indian woman who kills her abusive husband after facing severe domestic violence. Rai received mostly positive reviews for her portrayal. It was screened in the Marché du Film Cannes Film Market during the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Ahluwalia sat next to Rai during the screening, reportedly holding her hand and sobbing during the most violent scenes.[67] In the same year Rai appeared as a warrior from Kerala named Mira in Doug Lefler's epic film The Last Legion, alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, and Thomas Sangster. The film was a critical failure.[68]
In 2008 Rai starred alongside Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker's historical drama Jodhaa Akbar. The story is a partly-fictionalised account of the life of MuslimMughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, played by Roshan, and his Hindu wife Jodha Bai, played by Rai. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning revenues of over Rs 590 million domestically. Rai's performance in the film was praised by critics, with Rajeev Masand writing, "Aishwarya Rai is wonderfully restrained and uses her eyes expertly to communicate so much, making this one of her finest outings on screen".[69] She earned her eighth nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards for her performance. Later that year she co-starred with husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Verma's Sarkar Raj, a sequel to his previous film, Sarkar.[70] She plays the CEO of a major power company that is proposing a new power plant in rural Maharashtra. The film was a critical and commercial success.[71][72]
In 2009 she appeared in Harald Zwart's spy comedy film The Pink Panther 2, playing the role of criminology expert Sonia Solandres. Like its predecessor, the sequel received negative reviews from critics,[73] and did a moderate business of $34,590,360 at the U.S box office.[74] In 2010 she collaborated with Mani Ratnam for a bilingual project, two films featuring Rai portraying a character based on the goddess Sita. The films were shot simultaneously, with Rai's role being one of the only roles which were played by the same performer in both versions. Upon release, the project received mixed reviews. Though both her portrayals of Ragini were praised, the Hindi verson—Raavan, alongside Abhishek Bachchan—failed commercially, whilst the Tamil version—Raavanan—was successful. The Hindi version of the film got decent reviews in various US media, including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, with the former saying, "Raavan has Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if occasionally dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan", and the latter describing Rai as a scene-stealer.[75]
Rai paired with Rajinikanth in the science fiction Tamil film Enthiran (2010), directed by S. Shankar.[76] The film—the most expensive ever made in India—was released worldwide in 2010, and is the highest-grossing Indian film when all its versions are totalled.[77][78][79][80][81] She appeared in Vipul Shah's Action Replayy opposite Akshay Kumar, which received mixed reviews from critics. Rai's final release in 2010 was Guzaarish, her third collaboration with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Hrithik Roshan. The film tells the story of Ethan Mascarenhas (Roshan), a former magician who has been quadriplegic for twelve years; after years of struggle he files an appeal to the court for euthanasia. Rai played Ethan's strict, devoted, and supportive nurse Sophie D'Souza. The film opened to positive reviews, and Rai's portrayal was praised. According to Nikhat Kazmi, "Aishwarya is a stunning picture of fire and grace, walking away with certain scenes by her sheer vitality."[82][83] In 2011 she received her ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. As of May 2011, she is set to appear in Rajkumar Santoshi's next film, Ladies and Gentlemen, along with Abhishek Bachchan,[84] and in Madhur Bhandarkar's next directorial venture, Heroine.[85] The shooting of both films was postponed, due to Rai's pregnancy.
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