Some of Aishwarya's many hit Bollywood movie highlights!

After her many modelling awards Aishwarya entered into the Indian film industry, where she has also has proven her iron and has shown herself to be a complete and intelligent actress. Her first big movie conquest was her debut movie Iruvar completed in 1997 and was acclaimed by critics. This was a Tamil movie and it fetched Aish Rai praise from the whole Indian film industry. Rai Aishwarya went on to appear in a lot of movies, and soon she won the Best women debutant Screen award for her massive role performed in "Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya" released in 1997. She also received high praise in various other films where she was cast with Bollywood actors like Anil Kapoor in the film "Taal", Salman Khan in "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam", and Shahrukh Khan in the everlasting “Devdas”. Aishwarya never refrained from doing bit parts in a number of films and as a result of her short appearance in “Bunty Aur Babli” her clearly apparent acting abilty sent shock waves through the industry.

In 2003, Rai was a member of the jury at Cannes. In 2004, she was chosen by TIME Magazine's Asian Edition as one of Asia's "100 Most Influential People." She was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2, 2005 - "The Most Beautiful Face in the World." A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, and on April 25, 2005, she was featured on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. A wax figure of Rai is on display in Londons Madame Tussaud's wax museum.In the past, Indian actors and actresses were celebrities in Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, but mostly unknown to the rest of the world. Aishwarya is one of the few Indian actresses to have attempted to step into Western territory. Although frequently the subject of gossip column speculation about an imminent Hollywood career, it was only in 2004 that Rai finally acted in a foreign film, when British director Gurinder Chadha hired her to play the heroine in Bride and Prejudice, a Hollywood-funded but Bollywood-influenced version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice.Her next overseas venture, Mistres of Spices, from the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges, was released in the U.K. in April 2006. She played the title role in Umrao Jaan which released on November 3, 2006. The film was a commercial failure but gained her positive reviews for her performance. She played a somewhat negative role in Dhoom 2, a sequel to the 2004 hit Dhoom, was released on November 24, 2006. Dhoom 2 has been a huge hit all over the globe.On January 11, 2007, her film Guru, premiered in Toronto. It is rare for a Bollywood film to premiere in North America

Career Aishwarya Rai debuted in Mani Ratnam's Tamil language film, Iruvar with Mohanlal and Tabu. She played a dual role in the film. She was introduced to Bollywood by Rahul Rawail in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya; the film was a poor performer at the box office. However, her third project, a Tamil-language film, Jeans by S. Shankar was a commercial success and she also played the female lead in Rajeev Menon's Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain with Ajith which was also a success. She then appeared in popular Bollywood films Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Mohabbatein (2000). In 2002, Rai appeared with Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the lavishly produced Devdas, which was a major box-office success. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival and garnering international attention.