Aishwarya Rai and other Bollywood celebrities who started their career with Tamil films

Bollywood has seen many popular actors rise to fame with their iconic movie roles and charming persona. Over the years, many of Bollywood’s most successful faces have come from the Tamil film industry. Read on to find out which famous Bollywood actors started their acting careers with Tamil films.

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5 Bollywood actors who started their career with Tamil Films

Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan started her acting career with Tamil film Iruvar in 1997 with well-known filmmaker Mani Ratnam. The film also starred Tabu, Prakash Raj and Mohanlal alongside Aishwarya Rai. She has also acted in some other Tamil films like Mani Ratnam’s Ravanan, Shankar’s Jeans, Rajiv Menon’s Kandukondaen.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is all set to join Mani Ratnam yet again in his magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, which is an upcoming drama film. Her first Bollywood film was Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya that also released in 1997.

Image Credit - @LatchmanRahul (Twitter)

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Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra is a global icon today. She has recently impressed audiences with her performance in The Sky Is Pink. However, it is a lesser-known fact that Priyanka Chopra started her successful acting career with Tamil film Thamizhan. Priyanka Chopra’s first Tamil film was directed by Majith and it starred Thalapathy Vijay in the lead. Thamizhan became increasingly popular for the song Ullathai Killadhe which turned out to be a mega-hit song. Audiences were also impressed with Priyanka Chopra’s incredible chemistry with her co-star Vijay. Her other movie The Hero: Love Story Of A Spy also released in 2002 and marked her entry in Bollywood.

Image Credit - @Itzz_vendhanvj (Twitter)

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 Sri Devi

Late actor Sri Devi made her acting debut in Bollywood with the film Solva Sawan. However, this wasn’t the first time Sri Devi had appeared on the screen. Sri Devi was in fact a child actor and made her acting debut in the Tamil film Kandhan Karunai. Sri Devi’s career in the Tamil film industry was an elaborate one. She shared the screen space with top Kollywood actors like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. She has also worked with critically acclaimed directors like K Balachander and Balu Mahendra.

Image Credit: @MurthyBlr (Twitter)

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 Hema Malini

Hema Malini is one of Bollywood’s most loved veteran actors. She has featured in many successful Bollywood films like Johny Mera Naam, Kinara, Naseeb and several others. However, her first film was in Kollywood and was titled Ithu Sathiyam. Hema Malini’s role in the film was a tiny one, however, this was her first onscreen appearance. The film starred actor SA Ashokan as the male lead, while actor K Chandrakantha was seen as the female lead.

R Madhavan

R Madhavan made his acting debut in the Hindi series Sea Hawks. However, R Madhavan’s first film as a lead actor was Mani Ratnam’s Alaipaayuthe. It starred Shalini as the leading lady. To this day R Madhavan’s Alaipaayuthe is one of the most celebrated films of Kollywood, which was also his claim to fame.

R Madhavan’s popularity instantly rose with the film and he was dubbed as the ‘Chocolate Boy’ of Kollywood for his role. His other Tamil films Minnale and Dum Dum Dum also starred him as the charming romantic hero. R Madhavan will next be seen with Anushka Shetty in Nishabdham, which will be released in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.