Aishwarya.Rai

Indian actress Aishwarya Rai, credited as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after her marriage, has appeared in over 40 films in five languages, predominantly Hindi, Tamil and English. She made her acting debut in 1997 with a dual role in Mani Ratnam's Tamil political drama film Iruvar, and her Bollywood debut that same year in the romantic comedy Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya opposite Bobby Deol. Rai followed it with a leading role in Jeans (1998), a high-profile Tamil film that was submitted as India's official entry to the Academy Awards. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her breakthrough role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic drama Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999). Rai then starred as a singer in her second successful film of 1999—the musical drama Taal.

Rai had six film releases in 2000, including Kandukondain Kandukondain, a Tamil adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility, and Aditya Chopra's romantic drama Mohabbatein.In 2002, Rai played opposite Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Bhansali's period romance Devdas, an adaptation of the novel of the same name.Her performance in the top-grossing production earned her a second Best Actress award at Filmfare. In 2003, Rai played the protagonist of Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film Chokher Bali, an adaptation of the novel of the same name which proved to be a success. However, the failure of her two Hindi film releases of the year—Dil Ka Rishta and Kuch Naa Kaho—led to a setback in her Bollywood career. The following year, Rai played a character based on Elizabeth Bennet in a Bollywood-style adaptation of Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, entitled Bride and Prejudice, an English language British production directed by Gurinder Chadha. Also in 2004, she reunited with Ghosh to play a depressed woman opposite Ajay Devgan in the drama Raincoat.

In 2006, Rai featured as a thief in the action film Dhoom 2, her first major commercial success since Devdas. She followed it by playing the leading lady opposite Abhishek Bachchan in Ratnam's semi-biographical drama Guru (2007), a box office hit. Also in 2007, Rai appeared in her first Hollywood production—the historical drama The Last Legion—co-starring Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth. However, the film proved to be a critical and commercial failure. She subsequently portrayed the Rajput princess Jodhaa Bai opposite Hrithik Roshan's Akbar in the historical drama Jodhaa Akbar (2008). Rai had five film releases in 2010, including the ₹2.5 billion (US$37 million)-grossing science fiction film Enthiran co-starring Rajinikanth. She also played the role of a long suffering nurse to a quadriplegic in Bhansali's acclaimed drama Guzaarish. After taking a sabbatical from film acting in 2010, Rai made a comeback five years later with the role of a lawyer in Jazbaa (2015), a remake of the South Korean film Seven Days.