Ultimate Star Ajith Kumar

Ajith Kumar (born May1, 1971) is an Indian film actor who has appeared in Tamil,Telugu and Hindi movies. Starting his career as a mechanic, Ajith made his acting debut in his only Telugu-language film-to-date, Prema Pustagam in 1992, which was followed by Amaravathi in the following year, his first lead role. After acting in a series of smaller budget films, Ajith was later recognized for his performance an anonymous lover in the award-winning movie Kadhal Kottai. He went on to demonstrate his versatility as an actor by portraying a variety of unique characters.

Ajith received his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Vaali in 1999, portraying a double-role. He went on to win two consecutive Filmfare Best Actor Awards — in the 2001 film Citizen, in which he appeared in nine different appearances, and in the 2002 film, Villain, playing twins, one of which had a disability. He was later recognized for his triple role in Varalaru, his biggest grosser to date and for his more sensitive character portrayal in Kireedam. Ajith thus established himself as a leading actor of contemporary Tamil cinema.

In addition to being an actor, Ajith is a race driver, having driven in Formula Three for a season and an active ambassador for the Green Revolution. He is known in the Indian media for publicly speaking his mind and openly expressing his opinions, occasionally surrounding himself with controversy.

Early life and education

Ajith Kumar was born in Hyderabad, India. Ajith is the middle son of three children others being Anil Kumar and Anup Kumar, both being software engineers. Ajith is an ethnic Saurashtrian who derives his roots from around Tanjore (or) Thanjavur of Tamil Nadu. In his childhood he was brought up in Chennai, TamilNadu. Schooling days were numbered for Ajith as he dropped out of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School in 1986 to become a part-time two-four wheeler mechanic and a full-time garment exporter based in Erode till 1990. Business agencies pushed him into modelling for adverts in print media. He also took it on realising an income in the job, it eventually paved his way into Tollywood otherwise nown as the Telugu film industry and later into Kollywood.

Early career

(Ajith) started his film career at the age of 21 as an actor Telugu Movie Prema Pustagam in 1992. 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. was his third Tamil film that released 10 months later in 1995, Aasai, directed by Vasanthan and produced by Mani Rathnam which helped to establish his career as a teen icon in Kollywood. Ajith's first big budget venture Aasai but only after Agathiyan's Vaanmathi and particularly the National Award winning Kadhal Kottai established him as an accomplished actor in Kollywood. Ajith played in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production in Ullasam. This venture paid him a salary of over Rs.1 million for the first time ever.

A string of successful movies followed, most notably Kahal Mannan and Aval Varuvala and the multiple award winning Vaali which cast him alongside Simran. Vaali saw a new peak in Ajith's career. 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.

Varalaru and the future

By contrast, in 2006,Ajith acted 3 projects, Paramasivan directed P.Vasu, Thirupathi directed by Perarasu. Both were Moderate Hits. Later he released his 3 years project Varalaru directed by K.S.Ravikumar. Varalaru emerged as a successful film. He donned a triple role playing a father and two sons. The role got him a Filmfare award for best actor 2007.

Ajith's first film in 2007 was with the newcomer director Chella entitled Aalwar. Both Varalaru and Aalwar were opposite Asin. Aalwar did not live up the expectations created by the success of Varalaru, as a result it was another major let down for Ajith. After [Aalwar], Ajith acted ina remake of a 1989 National Award winning Mohanlal classic, entitled Kireedam opposite Trisha. The film was produced by Anil Ambani's conglomerate Adlabs Films and will mark their entry into Kollywood. Ajith sustained a recurring spinal injury on the sets of the film. Kireedam, though a critically acclaimed film it didn't do well at box office. However Ajith was well appreciated for acting in such an emotional and different film. On 14th Dec 2007,Ajit's Magnus Opus BILLA released Breaking all records.The film got an opening equal to that of Sivaji's.In kerala it is the highest collecting movie of all times breaking records set by mohanlal and mamooty and also recently released Sivaji.this info was published in THE HINDu news paper. The film is a remake of Rajinikanth's 1980 Tamil film Billa which itself was a remake of Amitabh Bachan's 1978 Hindi film Don which in turn was remade by Shah Rukh Khan in 2006 as Don again.The film is directed by Vishnuvardhan and the expectations are high on this film with Nayanthara, Namitha and Rose Dawn paired with Ajith for the first time. After Billa, Ajith is currently filming for Aegan directed by Raju Sundaram. Ajiht is filming for the film from January 2008, possibly for a June 2008 release.

Personal life

Family

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. They got married in 2000 in Chennai where they invited many other Kollywood actors and actresses including Rajnikanth,Kamal Hasan,Viyay,Surya and R.Madhavan. As both were of different religions Ajith being a Hindu and Shalini being a Christian, together they were married in the customs of both religions. After their marriage in the year 2000, Shalini retired as an actress and became a full time homewife. However she did accompany Ajith at the sets of his films as moral support. On January 3rd,2008, the couple were blessed with a baby girl, Anoushka.

Relationships

Since the start of his career in Tollywood and Kollywood, Ajith was well known for being outspoken and genuine about his life and projects. He was also outspoken about his affair with a particular actress. In 1997 Ajith was romantically linked to fellow actress Heera. Both first met in sets and so acted three films together before becoming romantically linked. Ajith and Heera split up in 1999 due to unknown causes. That same year Ajith met his future wife Shalini the sets of Amarkalam in 1999. They only waited one year before they got married.

Car racing and other interests

Professional car racer

Ajith is a professional car 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 drove in the Formula 3 for the team Mango Racing. Ajith has taken part in many races but he was unsuccessful in all his attempts. So he had to discontinue his car racing career and he returned to acting in Kollywood.

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 in 2005. This was make an awareness for the environment and to increase oxygen levels in Channai, due to the pollution caused by everyday motorists. This action was welcomed by the public. Since then the Green Revolution themselves have went on to plant many saplings in other parts of Tamil Nadu.

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. The Mohini-Mani Foundation became important to Ajith from 2003 onwards and he now continues to fund the non-profit organisation to make sure to keeps 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.ayalalitha presented him with a State Award. In 2007 he won his 4th Filmfare Best Actor Award South for the film Varalaru.