Aishwarya Rai, emerald-eyed beauty of Indian cinema, returns to Kollywood with Shankar’s Robot. Though her last Tamil film was Kandukondein Kandukondein released in 1999, Tamil dubbed versions of her Hindi movies Guru and Jodhaa Akbar have managed to keep her in Kollywood.
Aishwarya, who won the Miss World beauty pageant in 1994, waited for three years before making her debut in acting. Although Aishwarya was approached by several Bollywood producers to act in their films, it was Mani Ratnam whom she chose as the director for her debut film, Iruvar which was released 1997 with Mohanlal as her leading man. This film also marked Mohanlal’s debut in Tamil films. She stepped into Bollywood in the same year with Aur Pyar Ho Gaya with Bobby Deol.
Both these films failed to create wonders at the box-office. However, her third project Jeans, directed by Shankar earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award (South) and gave her box-office. She went on to act in Bollywood and met with success. In 1999, she came back to Tamil to act in Kandukondein Kandukondein directed by Rajiv Menon, which also featured Mammootty, Tabu, Ajith and Abbas.
That was the last time that she acted in a straight Tamil movie as she got busy in Hindi and later, in English movies. In 2006, she was the heroine of Mani Ratnam's Guru, originally made in Hindi and dubbed in Tamil. Jodhaa Akbar with Hrithik Roshan was also dubbed in Tamil.
She started her career with the superstar of Malayalam cinema, the two-time National Award winner Mohanlal; now, her comeback to Tamil is with Superstar Rajinikanth. The Tamil audience has always kept her in their hearts and is now expecting a magnificent performance from her.
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