Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s films with director Mani Ratnam

With Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is prepared to return to the big screen. She will play Nandini, a Puzhavoor Princess, and Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar’s wife, in the movie.

Mani Ratnam would be stepping into the realm of the historical action drama genre with this endeavor. The director has produced some iconic masterpieces in the past. Mani Ratnam’s talent as a storyteller has stretched over four decades and various genres, whether it was O Kadhal Kanmani or trilogy – Roja, Bombay, and Dil Se. Ponniyin Selvan: 1 would mark the director’s achievement of yet another milestone.

Ponniyin Selvan is not the first film that Aishwarya will be featuring in Mani Ratnam’s film. Ratnam and the actress have already collaborated on three different films.

IRUVAR (1997)

With Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made her acting debut. The film aimed to present a fictitious version of the relationship between Tamil cinema and Dravidian politics that continued to exist between M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi during the 1980s in Tamil Nadu.

Aishwarya had to put in extra effort to learn Tamil because she is not a native Tamil speaker. The audience overwhelmingly recognized the actress, who played two separate personalities. Many devoted moviegoers still remember her for wearing a white saree and a white flower wreath.

GURU (2007)

Guru, Aishwarya’s second collaboration with Mani Ratnam, was billed as a biography of industrialist tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani. Rai played the part of Sujata in the movie, which was loosely based on Kokila Dhirubhai Ambani. The actress portrayed a complexly humble, naive, yet rebellious peasant girl with ease.

Mani Ratnam used two unforgettable songs to highlight Rai’s majesty. Alongside Abhishek Bachchan, the actress danced gracefully in “Tera Bina” while wearing a lovely traditional Gujarati saree. Fans were won over by the on-screen chemistry that the director managed to create between the two stars. Aishwarya appeared in a simpler avatar in the song “Barso Re” and rocked carefree against a backdrop of pouring rain. Guru went on to become a huge box office success. This film served as the starting point of Aishwarya Rai’s romance with Abhishek Bachchan.

RAAVAN (2010)

Later, for his film Raavan, Mani Ratnam worked his magic with Aishwarya Rai. The actress played Ragini Sharma, a character based on Sita, who was the wife of IPS Dev Pratap Sharma (played by Vikram) and was abducted by Beera, using the core of the epic Ramayana enhanced with a modern touch (played by Abhishek Bachchan). Rai gave a standout performance in the film. Ragini was brave, aggressive, and gutsy in contrast to her character in Guru. Aishwarya Rai considered it difficult to be able to portray a variety of emotions on the same canvas and do so with ease.

Even Aishwarya referred to the movie as “the most difficult job of her career.” She declared, “This is the most difficult job of my career,” during the release of the soundtrack for the movie.

With Ponniyin Selvan-1, the director-actress team is currently working together for the fourth time. Fans and movie buffs alike are already interested in Aishwarya Rai’s portrayal of a queen from the tenth century. The film will release on 30th September in theaters.