Ajith Kumar
Ajith | |
|---|---|
| File:AjithKumar.jpg | |
| Born | May 1, 1971 |
| Occupation | Actor |
Ajith Kumar (born May 1, 1971 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India) is a popular Tamil actor and a race car driver. He is known affectionately in his fanbase as Thala (Leader) and titled onscreen as Ultimate Star.
Film career
Nineties
Ajith started his film career at the age of 21 in a Telugu movie Prema Pustakam in 1992. The movie proved to be successful and he won the Best New Face Award for it, establishing him as a teen icon. Two other successful movies followed in Tamil Amaravathi and Pavithra, which was delayed for 17 months because of an injury that left him bed-ridden. Both fetched him several awards from the media.
Aasai, directed by Vasanth followed in 1995 which proved to be very successful at the box office. After Agathiyan's Vaanmathi and particularly the National Award winning blockbuster Kadhal Kottai, he came to be regarded as the superstar of the new generation at the age of 25.
He played in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production alongside Vikram in Ullasam, and a string of successful movies followed, most notably Aval Varuvala and the award-winning blockbuster Vaali which cast him alongside Simran . After Amarkalam (1999), he set up his own distribution company AK International.
Throughout the Nineties, he was seen in many successful movies in guest appearances and was later cast alongside Mammooty and Aishwarya Rai in Kandukondain Kandukondain and played a supporting role in Shahrukh Khan's Asoka. Almost all his movies have been dubbed or remade into Telugu.
He won the South India Filmfare Best Actor Award for Villain, directed by KS Ravikumar. He is an ambassador for the Green Revolution, an effort to clean up the Chennai environment and encouraging people to plant saplings. He uses his films for subtle marketing of his ideas in this regard.
His next productions will be Aalvar and God Father, both to be released in 2006.
Personal life
Ajith is the middle son of three children, born to a Sindhi mother and Malayalee 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.[citation needed] Business exigencies pushed him into modelling for adverts in print media which eventually paved the way into Tollywood and later into Tamil films.[citation needed]
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. [citation needed]
He was romantically linked to fellow actress Heera and met future wife Shalini on the sets of Amarkalam in 1999.
Awards & achievements
As an actor
- Best New Face Award from Bharatmuni Art Academy for his debut film Prema Pustakam (Telugu)
- Filmfare Award, Cinema Express Award and Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Vaali (1999)
- Cinema Express Best Artist Award for the film Mugavari (2000)
- Special Actor - State Award' for the film Poovellam Un Vasam (2001)
- Filmfare Award' and Dinakaran Cinema Award for the film Villan (2002)
As a race car driver
- He has participated in the Indian Formula Championships in 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 40 drivers.
- He participated in the British F3 Scholarship in 2004 for Indian Team.
Results:
- He got the 3rd position in the 2nd round and in the 8th round.
Filmography
Trivia
- He is a first-class professional bike racer
- He is the third Indian to take part in international Formula 3 race competitions.
- He owns a pilot licence.
- He is a professional photographer.
- As of January 2006, he has over 60,000 registered fanclubs [1]worldwide from Alwarpet to America, England to New Zealand, united by the brotherhood of Thalaism.
- He had undergone over 14 dangerous spinal surgeries till date [2]
- He sends flowers even to his critics. [3]
- Very disciplined in his work, he keeps a visitors' book, in which people who go to the sets to meet him can leave their names. Ajith is sure to call them back once the shoot is over. [4]
- Ajith prefers to give generic press meets rather than one-to-one exclusive interviews.
- He shed 20 kilos in severe diet and fitness sessions within 40 days for Paramasivan.
References
External links
- Ajith Kumar at IMDb