Ajith Kumar

Ajith Kumar அஜித் குமார்
Other names	Ultimate Star, Thala
Years active	1992-Present
Spouse	Shalini

Ajith Kumar (Tamil: அஜித் குமார்) (born in Hyderabad, India on May 1, 1971) is a Tamil film actor. He began his career doing various temp jobs in Andhra Pradesh, while also attending a theatre for stage plays, to follow his dream to act. After three years of acting in minor roles and small-budget ventures in Tamil films, Ajith Kumar gained the Tamil cinema's attention in 1995 by playing the role of Jeeva in Aasai, his first blockbuster and since then he has acted in over forty Tamil films. He is affectionately addressed as Thala (meaning literally the head) by his fans and credited as Ultimate Star in his movies. He has high fan followings in the Indian subcontinent and Europe. Ajith Kumar was also a motor car racer until 2005 and took part in Formula 3 championships for the minor outfit, Mango Racing. In 2004, he became the third participant ever from India after Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok.

An accomplished dramatic actor and celebrity, he has won several awards at a regional award including State Awards from Tamil Nadu. Ajith Kumar performs predominantly in leading roles in high-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. His most popular films include Aasai (1995), Kadhal Kottai (1996), Vaali (1999), Amarkalam (1999), Citizen(2001), Villain (2002), Varalaru (2006) and Kireedam (2007). He is married to fellow Indian actress, Shalini.

Early life and education

Born Kumar in Hyderabad, India. Ajith is the middle son of three children others being Anil and Anup Kumar, born in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh, India) to a Sindhi mother and Palghat Tamil Iyer father. Ajith dropped out of Asan Memorial Sr. Sec. School in 1986 to become a part-time 2/4-wheeler mechanic and full-time garment exporter based in Erode till 1990. Business exigencies pushed him into modelling for adverts in print media which eventually paved the way into Tollywood and later into Tamil films. After his surgery for a broken vertebra he lost feeling in his legs, but he vowed to recover and walked all the way from his home in Madras to the Balaji Shrine in Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh. He was romantically linked to fellow actress Heera and met future wife Shalini on the sets of Amarkalam in 1999.

Film career

Ajith started his film career at the age of 21 in a Telugu movie Prema Pustagam in 1992, he won the Best New Face Award for his performance.. His next film was in Tamil entitled Amaravathi for which he was paid a token salary of Rs.390. His second Tamil film Pavithra was delayed for 17 months because of a racing injury that left him bed-ridden. Both films received appreciation from the Tamil audience. It was his third Tamil film that released 10 months later in 1995, Aasai, directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Rathnam which helped to establish his career as a teen icon in Kollywood. According to Tamilcinema.com, the film grossed almost Rs.50 million at the box office playing for 210 days successfully.

1995-2000

Ajith's first big budget venture Kalloori Vaasal was with Prashanth and Pooja Bhatt, but only after Agathiyan's Vaanmathi and particularly the National Award winning Kadhal Kottai, which established him as an accomplished actor in Kollywood. Kadhal Kottai grossed almost Rs.100 million at the box office playing for 240 days. Ajith later played in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production in Ullasam that cast Vikram in guest role. This venture paid him a salary of over Rs.1 million for the first time ever.

A string of successful movies followed, most notably Kadhal Mannan and Aval Varuvala and the multiple award winning Vaali which cast him alongside Simran. Vaali saw a new peak in Ajith's career. The film grossed almost Rs.200 million at the box office playing for 270 days. He played a dual role in the film as a deaf-and-dumb twin who lusts after his naive brother's wife.

After Amarkalam with his fiancee Shalini, Ajith set up his own distribution company AK International with office located within the premises of NIC Arts which was run by his friend-producer-distributor S.S.Chakravarthi. This office was shifted in 2006.

In 2000, Ajith was cast alongside Mammooty, Abbas, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai in Kandukondain Kandukondain. The film's audio rights were sold for a record Rs.22 million, which still stands. Mugavari followed as Ajith acted in alongside Jyothika.

2000-2005

Unlike the 1990s when Ajith films had urban romantic plots, the 21st century saw Ajith films with wide-ranging plots based on social issues and civic responsibilities like MGR since the 1950s.

In 2001, Ajith played the role of Shahrukh Khan's brother in the historical film Asoka. He began the year with Dheena by A.R.Murugadas. This showed Ajith as a rowdy alongside Suresh Gopi and Laila. The film is credited with causing the present cult image of Thala to Ajith. Several movies followed: among them the cult film Citizen opposite Vasundhara Das; romantic entertainers like Poovellam Un Vasam and Raja opposite Jyothika and the action tale Red.

He won the South India Filmfare Best Actor Award for Villain, directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Villain, in which he once again donned a dual role, grossed almost Rs.300 million at the box office marking a new office box peak in Ajith's career, reports Business Today. By then the Kollywood trade had unanimously begun calling him the King of Opening.

In 2003 and 2004, Ajith acted in Anjaneya, Jana and Attagasam opposite Meera Jasmine, Sneha and Pooja respectively. Anjaneya created a new record for Telugu rights reported at almost Rs.9 million offered by Dr. Rajasekar while Ajith's salary reached a peak of almost Rs.50 million for the film but he waived it when the film did not match expectations. Jana too did not perform as expected and Ajith suffered some high profile fracas with its producer. So, he declared an end to motor racing and Attagasam, in which he donned a dual role again, was successful.

In 2005, Ajith acted in the film Ji opposite Trisha. Project delays by director Bala and producer Chakravarthi forced him to sit idle for the rest of the year. He thus released only 4 films in the three years from 2003 through 2005.

2005-2010

By contrast, in 2006, Ajith acted in 2 failure and 1 hit projects, Paramasivan directed P.Vasu, Thirupathi directed by Perarasu and particularly Varalaru directed by K. S. Ravikumar. This is his comeback movie since Villain. Varalaru emerged as one of HITS of the year earning almost Rs.500 million, reports Business Today,that made the next best grosser in Tamil Film Industry next to Rajni's Chandramukhi(Rs.650 million) and the "still going strong movie" of Rajni "Sivaaji".... Ajith's latest film is with the newcomer director Chella entitled Aalwar. Both Varalaru and Aalwar were opposite Asin. Aalwar is Flop. After Aalwar, Ajith reported to do a remake of a 1989 National Award winning Mohanlal classic, entitled Kireedam opposite Trisha. This film is produced by Anil Ambani's conglomerate Adlabs Films and will mark their entry into Kollywood. He sustained a recurring spinal injury on the sets of the film.

However, Billa 007 is regarded as Ajith's most prestigious venture of 2007, and is scheduled for Deepavali release. The film is a remake of Rajinikanth's 1980 Tamil blockbuster Billa which itself was a remake of Amitabh Bachan's 1978 Hindi blockbuster Don which in turn was remade by Shah Rukh Khan in 2006 as Don again.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Ajith's most publicised romance was with actress Heera in the late 1990s. They met during film shootings around Chennai. Heera claims that Ajith's sense of humour attracted her to him although they acted in only two films together from 1996 through 1999. After Ajith's working relationship with Heera ended in early 1999, he began dating his Amarkalam co-star Shalini. Ajith's involvement with Shalini also made him a regular subject of tabloid gossip then, a role to which he was unaccustomed. After their marriage in the year 2000, Shalini retired as an actress and became a full time homemaker. In 2007, it was announced that the pair was set to have a baby later in the year.

Motor racing career

Motorcycle racing

Ajith is a professional motorcyclist who drove in circuits around India in places such as Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. He had also been abroad in his various races including Germany and Malaysia. At home he owns a Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycle. Ajith then turned this into a distant hobby as he continued acting, but he moved on to develop a new hobby of car racing for Formula 3 and for the Japanese company Mango Racing.

Motorcar Racing

Ajith is a professional motorcar racer, who drove in circuits around India in places such as Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. He had also been abroad in his various races including Germany and Malaysia.

   * He has participated in the Indian Formula Maruthi Championshipsin 2002.

   * He has participated in the Formula 3 BMW Asia championships in 2003 for Indian Team.

Results : He got the 6th position in the 8th round and the 5th position in the 10th round.

In total, he finished 12th among 20 drivers.

   * He participated in the British F3 Scholarship in 2004 for Mango Team.

Results : He got the 3rd position in the 2nd round and in the 8th round.

I’ve always had a need for speed. Ever since I sat in a car I wanted to be a professional racer. Lots of people have told me how difficult it is. But I’m not going to fail and I’ve never given anything less than my best shot in all my endeavors.

Charity Work

Ambassador For The Green Revolution

Ajith is an ambassador for the Green Revolution, an awareness campaign and effort to clean up the Chennai environment. He uses his films for subtle marketing of his ideas, and planted 101 saplings in his locality in Adyar, Chennai.

Mohini-Mani Foundation

Ajith created this non-profit organisation named after his parents in order to promote self-hygiene and civic consciousness, and helping to ease the problems of urban sprawl.

Awards

Ajith over the years in the has won multiple awards for his acting. He won the Best New Face Award from Bharatmuni Art Academy for his debut film Prema Pustagam in Telugu. After this award he won three more , a Filmfare Award, a Cinema Express Award and a Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Vaali in 1999. He then won another Cinema Express - Best Artist Award for the film Mugavari in 2000.

In 2001 he won the Special Actor - State Award for the film Poovellam Un Vasam. He then won another Filmfare Award and another Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Villain in 2002. Ajith Kumar has also won the Filmfare Best Actor Award South on two occasions and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (Tamil) for the Movie Kandukondain Kandukondain. On one occasion J.Jayalalitha presented him with a State Award.In 2007 he won his 4th Filmfare Best Actor Award South for the film Varalaru

Filmography

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External links

• Ajith Kumar at IMDb

Year	Film	Co-Stars	Director	Language	Role	Notes
2007	Billa	Nayanthara, Namitha	Vishnuvardhan	Tamil	Billa, Raja	Remake of 1980 film, Billa In Production
2007	Kireedam	Trisha Krishnan	Vijay Anand	Tamil	Sakthivel	Remake of National Award winning 1989 Malayalam blockbuster
2007	Aalwar	Asin, Keerthi Chawla	Chella	Tamil	Aalwar, Shiva	Remade in Kannada by Puneet Rajkumar
2006	Varalaru	Asin, Kanika	K. S. Ravikumar	Tamil	Shivshankar, Vishnu, Jeeva	Winner: Filmfare Best Actor Award
2006	Thirupathi	Sadha	Perarasu	Tamil	Thirupathi	Dubbed into Telugu as Tirupathi
2006	Paramasivan	Laila, Rahasya	P. Vasu	Tamil	Paramasivan	Dubbed into Telugu as Paramasivam
2005	Ji	Trisha	Lingusamy	Tamil	Vasu	Dubbed into Telugu as Ji
2004	Attagasam	Pooja	Saran	Tamil	Guru, Jeeva
2004	Jana	Sneha	Shaji Kailas	Tamil	Jana	Dubbed into Telugu as Rowdy Don
2003	Anjaneya	Meera Jasmine	Maharajan	Tamil	Paramaguru	Dubbed into Telugu as Aacharyam
2003	Ennai Thalatta Varuvala	Reshma	KS Ravindran	Tamil	Satish	Guest appearance
2002	Villain	Kiran Rathod, Meena	K.S. Ravikumar	Tamil	Shiva, Vishnu	Winner: Filmfare Best Actor Award
2002	Raja	Jyothika, Priyanka Trivedi, Manthra	Ezhil	Tamil	Raja	Dubbed into Telugu as Nuvvu Naaku Kavali
2002	Red	Priya Gill	Ram Sathya	Tamil	Red
2001	Asoka	Kareena Kapoor	Santhosh Sivan	Hindi	Suseema	Played a guest role, dubbed into Tamil as Samrat Ashoka
2001	Poovellam Un Vasam	Jyothika, Yukta Mukhi	Ezhil	Tamil	Chinna	Special Actor State Award in 2004
2001	Citizen	Vasundhara Das, Meena, Nagma	Saravana Subayah	Tamil	Arivanantham/Abdullah/Anthony/Citizen, Subramani	Dubbed into Telugu as Citizen
2001	Dheena	Laila, Nagma	A. R. Murugadoss	Tamil	Dheena
2000	Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven	Simran, Suhasini	Kavee Kalidas	Tamil	Surya
2000	Kandukondain Kandukondain	Aishwariya Rai, Tabu, Pooja Batra	Rajeev Menon	Tamil	Manohar	Winner: Filmfare Best Movie Award (Tamil) Winner: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (Tamil) Dubbed into Telugu as Priyuralu Pilichindi
2000	Mugavari	Jyothika	Durai	Tamil	Sridhar	Winner Cinema Express - Best Artist Award Dubbed into Telugu as Chirunama
1999	Amarkalam	Shalini	Saran	Tamil	Vasu	Dubbed into Telugu as Adhbutam
1999	Nee Varuvai Ena	Devayani	Rajakumaran	Tamil	Subramani	Played a guest role
1999	Anandha Poongatre	Meena, Malavika, Bhanupriya	Raj Kapoor	Tamil	Jeeva	Remade in Kannada
1999	Vaali	Simran, Jyothika	S. J. Suryah	Tamil	Shiva, Deva	Winner: Filmfare Best Actor Award (Tamil) Dinakaran Cinema Award Dubbed into Hindi as Vaalee and into Telugu as Vaale
1999	Unnai Thedi	Malavika, Swathi, Kushboo	Sundar C	Tamil	Raghu	Dubbed into Telugu as Premato Pilicha
1999	Thodarum	Devayani, Heera	Ramesh Khanna	Tamil	Anand
1998	Uyirodu Uyiraga	Richa	Sushma	Tamil	Shiva
1998	Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen	Roja	Vikraman	Tamil	Sanjay	Played a guest role
1998	Aval Varuvala	Simran	Raj Kapoor	Tamil	Jeeva	Remade from Telugu
1998	Kadhal Mannan	Manu	Saran	Tamil	Shiva
1997	Rettai Jadai Vayasu	Manthra	Sivakumar	Tamil	Vijay
1997	Pagaivan	Reshma	T.Rajasekar	Tamil	Prabhu	Played a guest role
1997	Ullasam	Maheshwari	JD-Jerry	Tamil	Guru	Dubbed into Telugu as Ullasam
1997	Raasi	Rambha	Muraliappas	Tamil	Kumar
1997	Nesam	Maheshwari	Narayan	Tamil	Nathan
1996	Kadhal Kottai	Devayani, Heera	Agathiyan	Tamil	Surya	Dubbed into Telugu as Prema Lekha Winner: National Award for Best Director
1996	Minor Maappillaigal	Anjala Zhaveri	A.Manohar	Tamil	Sunil	Played a guest role
1996	Kalloori Vaasal	Pooja Bhatt, Devayani	Pavithran	Tamil	Vijay	Dubbed into Telugu as College Gate
1996	Vaanmathi	Swathi	Agathiyan	Tamil	Sunil
1995	Aasai	Suvalakshmi	Vasanth	Tamil	Jeeva	Winner: Filmfare Best Movie Award (Tamil) Dubbed into Telugu as Aasa Aasa Aasa
1995	Rajavin Parvaiyile	Suvalakshmi	Manmohan	Tamil	Jithan	Played a guest role, dubbed into Telugu as Yuva Raktam
1994	Pavithra	Keerthana	Nitin	Tamil	Ashok	Dubbed into Telugu as Pavithra
1994	Paasamalargal	Revathi	Ramesh Kumar	Tamil	Kumar	Played a guest role
1993	Amaravathi	Sanghavi	Ramesh Kumar	Tamil	Kumar
1992	Prema Pustagam	Thangana	Pawan	Telugu	Siddhatha	Won Best New Face Award from Bharatmuni Art Academy