In an old interview when asked about Rajinikanth, Ajith mentions that one of the qualities he admires of the former is his handling of success. “He (Rajinikanth) doesn’t take success to his head” he says in that interview. True. The way one reacts to success speaks a lot about the mind and character of the person. Yet, it is equally important to look at how one handles failures as it tells about the heart of the person for failures affect not just the mind but also the heart.

Looking at Thala, as he is endearingly called by his fans, it is the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. that comes to mind – “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. This quote rightly captures Thala Ajith’s life in cinema. His career trajectory would put any roller coaster track to shame. But the man has carried himself with grace embracing it all.

As he turns another year older, it is time to look at some of the defining moments of his life and also learn from what his life has to offer.

The Initial Days

Before his foray into films, Ajith did multiple jobs. He says in an interview to Sun TV that he wasn’t disinterested in studies but just that he was bad at it. His passion for bikes and cars landed him as an apprentice at Chennai Motors. But his parents were not ok with him pursuing a mechanic job. He later joined a government export company as a merchandiser and worked there for more than 4 years. Back then, even before entrepreneurship became the buzzword, Ajith was at it and wanted to start his own company. But circumstances pushed him to a career in cinema. Thus was born actor Ajith Kumar.

The Rebirths of Ajith

Often, actors in Kollywood choose to be reborn by renaming themselves. Sivaji Rao Gaekwad became Rajinikanth. Parthasarathy Srinivasan became Kamal Hasan. Joseph Vijay became just Vijay. Venkatesh Prabhu became Dhanush. Silambarasan became Simbu and then STR. But Ajith Kumar remained Ajith Kumar. His rebirths have been marked not by a change of his name but by the sobriquets attached. From Kadhal Mannan to Ultimate Star to Thala, the titles speak for themselves about the character arc that has gone on to define Ajith Kumar.

A lot would attribute Amaravathi as the birth of Ajith Kumar the hero. But to me, he was born in the backseat of a Fiat Premier driving along Rajpath in Delhi. In this tense scene from Aasai (1995), Yamuna (Suvalakshmi) seated in the front is unhappy about Jeeva (Ajith) meeting Hariharan (Nizhalgal Ravi) to complain about his colleague Major Madhavan (Prakash Raj). Madhavan while driving the car adds fuel to the fire of Yamuna. There are 3 lines of tension at play here – between Jeeva and Yamuna, between Jeeva and Madhavan and between Madhavan and Yamuna. But Jeeva is all calm at the back going about writing something. You’re not sure whether he is paying attention to the conversation. But his calmness turns into a stern warning to Madhavan to not interfere between him and Yamuna. A very well written scene pulled off by Ajith with ease. This movie went on to seal his image as the chocolate boy of the time. From then on, he would go on to give us hits like Kadhal Kottai (1996), Kadhal Mannan (1998), and Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen (1998) amidst box office failures like Raasi (1997) and Ullasam (1997).

But what brought out Ajith the performer would undoubtedly be Vaali (1999). If in his previous movies he stole the hearts of women, Ajith as Deva sent shivers down their spines with his lusty eyes and vicious intentions. This point in his career can be considered as a rebirth of Ajith Kumar, the ultimate star who as a performer delivered Amarkalam (1999), Nee Varuvai Ena (1999), Mugavaree (2000), Kandukondein Kandukondein (2000) before becoming ‘Thala’ in Dheena (2001).

Before the idea of playing anti-hero became cool, Ajith pioneered the trend in recent times with Mangatha (2011). Ajith had been wanting to do such sort of roles even when he was just a few films old. He says in the same interview to Sun TV that he enjoyed doing negative roles like Guru in Ullasam. He says that he is ‘frustrated’ with his lover boy image wants to experiment with anti-hero shades but is disappointed that directors are not willing to take the risk with him. Thanks to Venkat Prabhu, he was reborn as Vinayak Mahadev sending even Vijay fans into a tizzy!

The Falls He Endured

Out of the 59 movies that he has done so far, a majority of his films landed badly at the box office. He is probably the only star who has delivered more flops than hits in his film career. There was a period when he gave back to back failures except for a few savers like Varalaru (2006) and Kireedom (2007). Starting with Anjaneya in 2003, he was on a flop streak with films like Jana (2004), Attagasam (2004), Ji (2005), Paramasivan (2006), Thirupathi (2006) and Aalwar (2007). Any normal person would have called it quits or changed tracks (to politics if one were to go by the trend). But what is life without a bad phase huh?

Even before films, Ajith had to go through difficult times when he tried his hands at business. Things did not go as planned with his racing aspirations too. Ajith also endured traumas physically. He has had multiple injuries owing to his racing adventures and stunt sequences in films. Srinivasan Ramanujan, a well-known film critic wrote in The Hindu that Rajiv Menon narrated the script of Kandukondein Kandukondein when Ajith was in the hospital recuperating from an injury.

But nothing could stop this man. ‘Donning’ a new avatar, he emerged like a phoenix with Billa that had a simple line but carried with it a lot of meaning –  “I am back!”. What could be considered as one of the best ‘intro scenes’ in Tamil cinema, it elevated the mass element to a whole new class. Billa arrives in a Mercedes to an aerodrome where Malaysia’s top goons are waiting. Clad in a dark suit sporting dark shades, he walks to hand over a briefcase to one of them. His hand then quickly reaches his back not to take a gun but a can of beer while the boys take positions pointing the gun at him. One of them says that he is about to kill him and asks if he has anything to say. Billa just shakes off the last few sips indicating that there is nothing to say and then tosses the can up. As the others look up, he suavely takes out the gun and finishes them all. Not a word spoken or emoted. Just the body language conveys that he is back with a bang.

What Can We Learn From Ajith?

If anyone were to ask how to maintain balance in life, it would save time to just have a look at the life of Ajith Kumar. Having tasted success and failures in equal measures, his life offers us some valuable lessons.  The first and foremost is that he has managed to make a mark for himself in a field where nepotism thrives openly. He did not have a father who was a director or an actor to lift him. Every day, every minute, every moment of his life was carved by himself. He is a testimony to what sheer perseverance and hard work can yield. Even though he decided to eke out a living from acting, he did not let go of his original passion. He continued to pursue his racing hobby and even went on to participate in the FIA F2 championship in 2010.

One thing that his fellow actors can learn is how Thala just goes about doing his job – acting, and doesn’t resort to unwanted and uncalled for virtue-signaling either in his movies or on stages. He doesn’t bring his politics on or off the screen. That doesn’t mean that he is politically ignorant or a coward who hesitates to express his opinions. Rangaraj Pandey, the prominent journalist who shared screen space with the star in Nerkonda Paarvai (2019) in various interviews mentions that Ajith definitely has his own take on politics and society but he chooses to express it only as a citizen at the booth. Last but no the least, success or failure, the man has never lost balance in life and has never taken both to his mind or his heart. Looks like he has learnt his lesson from Rajinikanth.

To the self-made man, I wish a very happy birthday!