WELL-DESERVED PRAISE-AJITH KUMAR

18 TIME OUT The Gulf Today / Thursday, March 6, 2008
CINEMA
WELL-DESERVED PRAISE
AJITH’S FORTHCOMING TAMIL FILM AEGAN, DIRECTED BY RAJU SUNDARAM, FEATURES NAYANTHARA IN THE LEAD, WRITES KK MOIDU

The Gulf Today / Thursday, March 6, 2008 TIME OUT 19
Many leading ladies’ names
from Bollywood and the South
were suggested for the lead
role opposite Ajith in Aegan.
Heroines like Katrina Kaif,
Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, Ayesha
Takia, Ileana D’Cruz, Tanushree Dutta, Sneha
Ullal, Parvathi Melton, Shriya Saran etc. were
among the few that were linked with the film.
Fragile beauty Katrina Kaif was the earlier
choice, but she opted out from the project
because of Bollywood commitments.
Shriya was also dropped due to her limited
call sheets, as she is busy with her
Hollywood film The Other End of the
Line. But some say that Ajith was dissatisfied
with Shriya’s item number in the
Vadivelu starrer Indralogathil Naa
Azhagappan.
Finally Nayanthara, who sizzled with
Ajith in Billa with her stylish looks, is
paired up with him again. Cinegoers hope
that the triumphant pair will repeat their success
in Aegan and will add one more superhit
to their careers.
Aegan, the directorial debut of Raju
Sundaram, will be produced by
Karunamoorthy of Ayngaran International and
his co-producer Arun Pandian. Director Raju
Sundaram, who has choreographed many hit
songs as a dance master himself, pens the
script for eminent
writer S Ramakrishnan’s dialogues. Other
artistes of the film are Suhasini, Jayaram,
Suman, Nasser, MS Basker and Sriman.
Navdeep of Arinthum Ariyamalum fame plays
a crucial role. Actor, director and choreographer
Prabhu Deva, brother of Raju Sundaram,
will make a guest appearance as a dance master
in the film.

Arjun Jana, one of the greatest cameramen
in the industry, is the cinematographer. Yuvan
Shankar Raja, who scored music for Ajith’s
previous hit Billa, composes for the film.
Yuvan, who scored the highest number of
films last year, renews his association with
Ajith in the film after Billa.
One of the highlights of the film is the foreign
locations like Hong Kong, Australia, New
Zealand, Malaysia and England. Aegan is said
to be the remake of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer
Main Hoo Na. According to reports,
Ayngaran International has bought the remake
rights from SRK’s Red Chillies, the producer
of runaway hit Main Hoon Na. Shah Rukh was
paired opposite Sushmita Sen in the typical
Bollywood masala.
Aegan means single man and Ajith is
involved in a great mission in the film. He
plays an undercover cop who is posted in a
college, not as a teacher or student, but to protect
a top nuclear scientist’s daughter who is on
the kidnapping list of terrorists.
In his mission, he protects the girl from the
evil hands and not only wins the hearts of the
students but also attracts the beautiful teacher
in the college.
Ajith Kumar is one of the leading young
actors in the Tamil film industry. He is recognised
in the industry as a good actor and a
good human being for his simplicity and
down-to-earth attitude.
He has acted in around 50 Tamil films in his
more than one-and-a-half decade long career.
He has also acted in one Telugu and one Hindi
film and most of his hit films were dubbed into
Telugu. Ajith played the brother of Shah Rukh
Khan in the historical Hindi film Asoka.
Ajith is known in his fanbase as Thala
(Leader) and his screen-name is Ultimate
Star. Born on May I in Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh, he is the second son of three children
born to a Malayalee father
Subramaniam and Sindhi mother
Mohini. His elder brother Anil Kumar
and younger brother Anup Kumar are
software engineers.
Ajith was brought up in Chennai
and dropped out of school to become
a race car driver and mechanic. He
was also a full time garment
exporter based in Erode and tested
a career in modelling. His modelling
in print media not only
earned him money but also
opened doors to filmdom.

Ajith made his debut in the
Telugu film Prema Pustagam
at the age of 21 and won the
Best New Face Award. Then
he acted in the Tamil film
Amaravathi followed by
Pavithra. The film was
delayed for more than oneand-
a-half years because he was
bed ridden with racing injury, which
affected his spinal cord.
After doing a series of small
budget Tamil films, he established
himself as a teen icon in
the Tamil industry with his
first big budget film Aasai
directed by Vasantha and produced
by Mani Rathnam. The
immensely successful movie
won the Filmfare Best Movie
Award and it was a turning
point in his career.
Ajith got his first break
in Kadhal Kottai directed by Agathiyan and he
won the National Film Award for Best
Director. Ajith’s performance as an anonymous
lover in the film propelled his career to
new heights. After the success of the film, he
was flooded with opportunities. He performed
a variety of roles in different films including
Amitabh Bachchan’s maiden Tamil film production
venture Ullasam.
Ajith’s performance in a double role in
Vaali fetched him the Filmfare Best Actor
Award for the first time and the overnight success
made him a superstar. He won the 2001
and 2002 Filmfare Best Actor Awards for
Citizen and Villain respectively.
He appeared in nine different roles in
Citizen. He played the twin’s role in Villain,
one of them as a mentally retarded person.
Ajith also played a triple role in Varalaaru, the
biggest grosser in his career.
After Amarkalam with Shalini, he set up his
own distribution company AK International.
He married Shalini in 2000 and they are
blessed with a baby girl.
Ajith played a pivotal role along with
Mammootty, Abbas, Aishwarya Rai and Tabu
in Kandukondain Kandukodain. His portrayal
as an unemployed youth, who hopes to
become a music director in Mugavari opposite
Jyothika, was well appreciated. He sacrifices
his love for the sake of his ambition and later
gives up his ambition for the sake of his family
in the film.
Ajith played a thug’s role in Dheena, directed
by AR Murugadoss. Malayalam actor
Suresh Gopi and Laila were the leads in the
film.
The failure of films like Anjaneya, Jana and
Attagasam pulled Ajith to the bottom level of
his career in 2003 and 2004. Although he was
paired opposite leading heroines like Meera
Jasmine, Sneha and Pooja, he could not save
the movies from box office disaster. His lead
opposite Trisha in Ji also was a huge flop. As
a result, he spent more than one-and-a-half
years without any new offers and that forced
him to cut down his acting fees.
However, Ajith made a comeback with the
moderate hit Paramasivan directed by PVasu
and repeated the victory in Thirupathi directed
by Perarasu. The success of the films hiked
his salary. His huge fan base always earns
good initials for his films and he is known as
the King of Opening.
The success of his three year project
Varalaru directed by KS Ravikumar made
him a front-runner in the industry. He won the
Filmfare Best Actor Award by playing a triple
role in the film — as a father and two sons.
His first release of 2007 Aalwar directed
by debutante Chella opposite Asin didn’t
come upto his expectations and it became a
major let down in his career.
But Ajith, known for his fighting spirit,
touched new heights with a sensitive portrayal
in Kireedam, a remake of the Mohanlal-starrer
of the same title. His love interest was Trisha
Krishnan and he won acclaims for his emotional
role in it. Anil Ambani’s Adlabs Films
marked their entry into the Tamil industry
with the film.
Ajith’s much hyped big budget Billa that
was released last year re-wrote the collection
records. The film was welcomed by the audience
not only in Tamil Nadu but also in
neighbouring Kerala. Ajith’s Billa directed by
Vishnuvardhan was a remake of
Rajinikanth’s 1980 remake of the Tamil film
Billa.
Ajith is an active Ambassador of Green
Revolution, an awareness campaign to clean
up Chennai. He has a student pilot’s license to
fly a single engine Cessna A152 aeroplane. He
is a professional car racer and has participated
in Formula Three for a season. He openly
expresses his opinions in front of the media
and that occasionally invites controversies.