
Aishwarya Rai made her acting debut with Mani Ratnam's epic political drama Iruvar in 1997. The film was in Tamil. In the movie, she played a dual role, as Pushpavalli and Kalpana.

Aishwarya Rai made her comeback in Tamil cinema with the romantic drama Jeans in the year 1998, after her Bollywood debut. In the movie, she played the role of a young girl Madhumitha. Aish was praised for her acting and dancing skills in Shankar's film.

Aishwarya another Tamil film 'Kandukondain Kandukondain' came out in 2000. In the movie, she played the role of a talented singer called Meenakshi. Tabu played her onscreen older sister in the film. The Rajiv Menon film had an ensemble of big actors including Mammootty, Ajith Kumar and Abbas.

In Raavanan, Aishwarya Rai portrayed a fearless woman Ragini, wife of a police officer who is kidnapped by Veera. Her role was synonymous with Sita in Ramayana and she got a positive review for her performance in the Mani Ratnam film. The film was also made simultaneously in Hindi as Raavan with Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan in lead roles and was also dubbed in Telugu as Villain.

Aishwarya Rai's first Bengali language drama Chokher Bali, was a movie based on the novel of the same name by Rabindranath Tagore. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh', it had Rai playing the role of Binodini, a young widow. It co-starred Raima Sen and Prosenjeet Chatterjee.

Aishwarya termed it as a dream come true moment when she was cast opposite superstar Rajinikanth in Enthiran. The former Miss World played the role of Rajinikanth's girlfriend Sana in S. Shankar's science fiction.