Plant growth and development are impacted by drought stress in terms of morphology, anatomy, and physiology. To identify the elite drought tolerant rice cultivar an attempt was made in the current study to screen the landraces collected from different agro climatic regions of Tamil Nadu. Seeds of 38 rice landraces and two check were evaluated with the standardized dose of -1.0 MPa PEG 6000. As a result eight landraces were proven to be drought tolerant and have a higher seedling growth characteristics under drought stress. Further, those selected eight landraces were subjected to morphological, physiological, and biochemical characterization to study the effect of drought tolerance. From the overall study, Kuliyadichan followed by Milagusambha was found to be promising with all the five morphological characteristics related to drought. For physiological characters, the cultivars Kuliyadichan, Milagusambha, and Rascadam recorded the highest score related to drought tolerance. The cultivars, Kuliyadichan, Milagusambha, Rascadam, and Kallundai are selected for all the biochemical traits. Also, the same cultivars recorded a higher percentage of spikelet fertility and Drought tolerant efficiency. Therefore, the cultivars Kuliyadichan, Milagusambha, and Rascadam could be the focus of a future rice breeding program to create varieties that are drought tolerant.