

Gayatri, post-release, remarked that her role in the film was changed, with Kausalya playing the role that she had signed on to portray. She made her Tamil film debut after being approached by producer KRG to feature in his Manadhai Thirudivittai opposite Prabhu Deva. Gayatri won a Cinema Express Award for her performance, with a critic describing it as a "matured performance gives an impression of her being an experienced actress". It was selected as one of the thirty-two Indian films to feature at the International Film Festival of India. Neela, a Kannada film about a tribal singer with cancer. Balachander's tele-serial Azhukku Veshti and rejected offers from prominent directors such as Arjun before deciding to make her debut by featuring in Nagabharana's Neela. Gayathri began her career as an actress with director K. She has also been a video jockey on television, having appeared for Fanta "Ilamai Pudhumai" on Sun TV and "Telephone Manipol" on Vijay TV. She entered the final stages of Femina Miss India 2000, after being selected among the 26 finalists from 8000 entries and made it through to the final 5, eventually finishing fourth.


She took up her first modelling assignments for Nalli Silks, followed by Kumaran Silks, Pothys and Chennai Silks while also participating in the beauty pageants, winning the Miss Tamil Nadu title in October 1997 and Miss South India title in 1998. About her decision to simultaneously pursue qualifications she revealed that "the average life of an actress on screen is maximum four years" and that "she can always return to physiotherapy once my career as an actress is over". Gayatri balanced her time between modelling and education and thus also went on to study physiotherapy at SRM College in Chennai. She spent a year in Bangalore.Gayatri at first wished to pursue a career in medicine and despite gaining 94% in board exams, she did not get a medical seat, and hence began reading a B.Sc. She was raised in Shahabad near Gulbarga until she was four years old, before her family headed to Madras. Gayatri Jayaraman was educated at Adarsh Vidyalaya and the Church Park in Chennai. She played the role of Devi Adishakti in Shree Ganesh & has appeared predominantly in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam language films.
