Miss World titleholder in 1994. Bollywood actress with critically acclaimed Tamil works and popular Hollywood titles on the side. There is a lot that Aishwarya Rai has achieved in her life, establishing her as one of India’s most prominent actresses and models. If you are a diehard Aishwarya Rai fan or new to her works, we have got you covered with a definitive streaming guide to her filmography through the years.
From Iruvar to Jodhaa Akbar - How to get started with Aishwarya Rai’s filmography?
A talented and versatile star like Aishwarya Rai is bound to have a diverse track record, offering both mainstream blockbusters and more niche critically-acclaimed picks. Despite starting out as a model, Rai’s Miss World win in 1994 was followed by a surprisingly profound acting debut in auteur Mani Ratnam’s political epic Iruvar.
However, it was the 1998 Tamil romantic drama Jeans that marked her first commercial hit, also holding the record for being India’s most expensive film at the time. Rai eventually moved to Bollywood, heralding her arrival with two classic romantic dramas directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.
Both movies were favoured by critics and audiences alike, earning Rai two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. Be it Nandini Darbar in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Paro in Devdas, both roles had her channeling tragically dramatic energy as women caught in between increasingly passionate romances disapproved of by society.
Finding mainstream success, Rai also ventured into other languages such as the Bengali period romance Chokher Bali (in which she played the part of a widow striving for sexual liberation). She would later reunite with her Chokher Bali director Rituparno Ghosh to play an unhappy wife in the Hindi-drama Raincoat, another critically acclaimed highlight.
Iruvar’s Mani Ratnam is also a recurring collaborator with Rai having acted in the rags-to-riches drama Guru and the Ramayana-inspired thriller Raavan (both also starring her husband Abhishek Bachchan). Even after years of taking a step back from acting, Rai returned to the big screen as a scheming royal in Ratnam’s two part period saga Ponniyin Selvan.
The Tamil historical epic Ponniyin Selvan wasn’t her first flirtation with the genre as she previously also drew raves for playing Rajput queen Jodhabai alongside Hrithik Roshan’s Mughal emperor Akbar in the ambitious historical epic Jodha Akbar. Alongside Roshan, Rai also starred in the heist thriller Dhoom 2 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s tragic human drama Guzaarish.
While Rai’s on-screen appearances have been more sporadic in the 2010s, the decade also witnessed some of her biggest commercial successes like the Rajinikanth-led sci-fi actioner Enthiran (Robot) and Karan Johar’s ensemble romance Ae Dil Hai Muskhil.
Aishwarya Rai’s Hollywood movies to watch
Starting with the British drama Provoked, Rai has also gone on to occasionally act overseas. While Provoked found her playing a woman who accidentally murders her husband, she later appeared as a charming criminologist in The Pink Panther 2, a clairvoyant seductress in The Mistress of Spices, and also starred in Bride and Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha’s Indian adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Why is Iruvar Aishwarya Rai’s best movie to watch?
Starring alongside Tamil character actor Prakash Raj and Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, Aishwarya Rai held her own in her debut film as an ambitious woman climbing up the political ladder. The movie, supposedly inspired by the lives of real-life Tamil Nadu politicians M Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran, and Jayalalitha, succeeds at exploring the nuances of its morally grey leads and remains one of Mani Ratnam’s finest ventures to this day.
Where can you stream Aishwarya Rai’s best movies?
Aishwarya Rai’s immense popularity implies that most of her movies are available on popular streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, Eros Now, and Lionsgate Play. You can watch some of her Tamil movies on Aha and Sun NXT as well.
