Actors - Ajith

	Actors - Ajith

Ajith (born May 1, 1971 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India) is a popular Indian Tamil actor and a race car driver with a huge fan following. He is affectionately called offscreen as Thala (The Head) by his fans and is titled onscreen as Ultimate Star in his movies.

Film career

Ajit Kumar started his film career, at the age of 21, in a Telugu movie Prema Pustagam in 1992. The movie was an instant hit and the Telugu film industry immediately took notice of him awarding him the Best New Face award of that year. His next film was in Tamil - a musical hit called Amaravathi for which he was paid a salary of just Rs390! However his second film released after 17 months - another musical hit Pavithra. The delay was caused due to a bike accident that made him bed-ridden!

Both these films familiarised his lover-boy looks to the people of Tamil Nadu (South Indian state) and established him as a promising teen icon. One remarkable feature of his film career is that he has picked up atleast one award for his films every year from 1992 through 2002 from government, institutions and media! Almost all his 30+ films have been dubbed or remade into Telugu. In an industry without entry barriers for celebrity sons, Ajith was the only self-made hero in the Nineties who survived and prospered without any film background whatsoever. Remember, as late as 1990, he was still working as a garment exporter!

His third film released 10 months later. It was the biggest blockbuster hit of 1995 Aasai, which ran for 210 days, directed by Vasanth and came as a turning point for Ajith. It brought him immense name/face recognition in each and every Tamil household! It was such a runaway success that he began considering cinema as a viable full-time career option for the first time ever! Thereafter film offers poured in regularly!

His fourth release Vaanmathi was also a silver jubilee blockbuster quickly followed by Kalloori Vaasal which was a musical hit later dubbed into Telugu as College Gate! But it was Director Agathiyan's Kadhal Kottai which put him straight into the top slot at the age of 25. The film was a mega blockbuster hit and also received a National Award (award given by the Government of India) for the director. It ran for 240 days!

The musical hit Nesam cast him along with Maheshwari who reappeared in Amitabh Bachan's Ullasam for which his salary was raised to Rs50 lakhs! This was followed by a string of musical hits like Raasi, Rettai Jadai Vayasu, Kadhal Mannan, Uyirodu Uyiraga and the super blockbuster Aval Varuvala which cast him along with Simran.

Throughout 1997 and 1998, his personal life came under unprecedented media scrutiny with juicy tabloid gossip about his rocky relationship with actress Heera which ended in Thodarum when she reportedly walked out on him. Ajith went into depression throughout the shoot of the musical hit Unnai Thedi. It was in these troubled times that another mega blockbuster hit in his career Vaali arrived! This film helped Ajith solidify his reputation (despite all the media mudslinging) as the superstar of next generation! The film was a huge blockbuster hit - a thriller running packed houses for 270 days. From there on, there was no stopping him. He ruled with continuous hits like Anandha Poongatrey, blockbuster Amarkalam and Mugavari (salary Rs2 crores).

At the age of 30, Ajith went for a radical image makeover in the blockbuster Dheena that released 8 months later. This was followed by musical hits like Citizen and Poovellam Un Vaasam which picked up dozens of awards from media and government.

For the sake of survival and friendship in an industry with minimal entry barriers, Ajith had to resort to doing guest roles in a relatively large number of films like Paasamalargal, Rajavin Parvaiyiley, Minor Maappillai, Pagaivan, Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen, Nee Varuvai Ena, Kandukondain Kandukondain
(its audio rights sale record price of Rs2.2 crores still remains unbeaten), Asoka and Ennai Thalatta Varuvala.

There were some hiccups in the form of films such as Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven which had outrageous plots but Ajith came back strong every time with musical hits Red, Raja and Villain directed by K.S.Ravikumar, which was a tremendous blockbuster hit running 300 days!

The musical hit Anjaneya released 11 months later amid sky-high expectations. His salary then peaked at Rs3.5 crores per film and its Telugu remake rights were sold for Rs85+ lacs average per area at the time of shoot itself! But his grip on the world of Kollywood weakened by choosing outlandish plots such as Jana that released 7 months later. This was the only Ajith film ever that did not take a grand opening due to haphazard marketing, logistic and project management issues. Now, he has declared that there will be no more racing and he is going to concentrate only on acting.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ajith ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Ajith; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay