Ajith Kumar filmography

Ajith Kumar on the sets of the film English Vinglish (2012).

Ajith Kumar is an Indian actor working mainly in Tamil cinema. He was first seen played a minor role in the 1990 Tamil film En Veedu En Kanavar.^[1] However, his professional career began in 1993 through the Telugu film Prema Pusthakam.^[2] Following that, in the same year he made his major Tamil cinema debut through Amaravathi in which he played the lead role. The film emerged as an average grosser, but helped him getting more assignments in modelling.^[2] He followed that with films like Paasamalargal (1993) and Pavithra (1994). In 1995, he landed his first breakthrough role in the romantic thriller Aasai. The success of the film helped him establish himself as an up-and-coming actor in Tamil cinema.^[3] He was next seen in the epistolary Kadhal Kottai (1996). The film was a blockbuster and won three National Film Awards including the award for the Best Tamil Film in 1996. His subsequent films Ullasam (1997) and Kaadhal Mannan (1998) were moderately successful.^[2]

Ajith's dual portrayal as twin brothers –where one is deaf and mute–in the S. J. Suryah-directed Vaali (1999) fetched him his first Filmfare Award. Furthermore, his performance was well received by the critics. The film's success prompted Rajiv Menon to cast Ajith in his Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000). Featuring an ensemble cast, the film saw him paired opposite Tabu. The following year saw him collaborating with debutante A. R. Murugadoss for Dheena. The film earned him a reputation as an "action hero". He was next seen in the highly anticipated Citizen (2001) where he portrayed 10 different characters. The film ended up as a commercial success but received poor response from the critics. The family drama Poovellam Un Vasam fetched him a Special Prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. His last release of the year was Santosh Sivan's Asoka where he was seen playing a negative role in a brief appearance co-starring Shah Rukh Khan.^[4][5] His performance as twin-brothers in the 2002 film Villain earned him a second Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

During the period 2003 to 2005, Ajith had acted in a few films as he concentrated more on his racing career. He had his only success with Attahasam (2004) around this time. In 2006, he returned after a sabbatical through Varalaru. He played three different roles, one of which includes a classical dancer. His performance was critically praised and he went on to receive his third Filmfare Award. The film was his biggest blockbuster then. The following year, he was seen in two remakes—Kireedam and Billa. The former was a remake of the namesake 1989 Malayalam film while the latter was remade from the 1980 Rajinikanth starrer Billa. His next two releases, Aegan (2008) and Aasal (2010), took a big opening but turned out to be box-office failures.

After a brief hiatus, Ajith signed up Venkat Prabhu's Mankatha (2011), which happened to be his 50th film. He played a full-length negative character as a suspended police officer who lusts for money. His performance received critical praise as it broke the stereotype hero image in Tamil cinema.^[6] Mankatha had the biggest opening of the year in Tamil cinema, and eventually turned out to be Ajith's biggest commercial success.^[7] His next release Billa II (2012), Tamil cinema's first prequel,^{[lower-alpha 1]} opened to negative reviews.^[9][10][11] In 2013, he was seen in the multi-starrer Arrambam. The film received positive response from the critics as well as the audience. His 2014 release Veeram also received positive response,^[12] and in 2015, he appeared in Yennai Arindhaal, which received mixed to positive reviews.^[13][14]

Films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Notes

References

• 84. Thala's Heroines from Amaravati to Ak57