Ajith Kumar fondly called as Thala has one of the most loyal fan based hero in south cinema. Though Ajith belongs to Tamil Cinema, his charm has crossed the boundaries and spread into other southern states too. Unlike to his contemporaries, Ajith was well known with his dubbed film Prema Lekha in Telugu during 90's itself. Infact he his debut as a lead actor into films is with a Telugu film, Prema Pusthakam but was stalled due to the demise of its director. But, it remained his only direct Telugu film.
Later he got introduced into Tamil as lead hero with Amaravathi but got badly injured while he was training for a race which resulted him to take bed rest for one and a half years. After his recovery he started to act as character actor in Aravind Swamy and Vijay starrers. Ajith got his first commercial break with Mani Ratnam's production Aasai. Then he became a popular hero with smash hit Kaadhal Kottai which was dubbed into Telugu as Prema Lekha.
After several disappointments, he bounced back with Kaadhal Mannan and Vaali. He played in a dual role in Vaali and along with scoring huge success Ajith also won numerous accolades for his performance in a role of deaf and dumb. His success streak continued with Amarkalam starring Shalini whom he married soon after the completion of the film. The new millennium brought new mass action image for Ajith with Dheena. It marks the inception of cult following for Ajith and earned nickname Thala from his fans.
Ajith also moved to Bollywood in early 2000's and did a crucial role in Shahrukh Khan's much hyped project Asoka. Later he switched towards his favourite motor racing. After a brief period he is back to films but many of his films failed at the boxoffice. With Villain and Billa Ajith has reclaimed his lost glory and shot to super fame earning massive fan following. He breaks the stereotype of hero's character by playing as antihero in Mankatha which was a roaring success in Tamil. His fans admired him for breaking the glass ceiling and introduced a new kind of hero to Tamil cinema.
His collaboration with cinematographer turned director Siva, has delivered a series of hits, Veeram, Vedalam and Viswasam. Then his continuous films with director H Vinoth has earned mixed results. Now his next is yet to be confirmed and high stakes and buzz running around the film. His last releases Valimai and Thunivu, despite fetching poor reviews managed to collect big numbers indicating his massive fan following.
CineJosh wishing Thala Ajith Kumar a very happy birthday. Wishing him health, happy and grand success with his next.