When Thala dared to be different - Ajith Birthday Special Slide show

Every other commercial star would have done something unique and different going out of their safe zone of regular masala entertainers. Thala Ajith Kumar who remains the 'King of Opening' in Tamil commercial mainstream cinema for many years now has dared to be different in many occasions in his career that nears a quarter century.

The 'difference' we are referring is not just limited to the roles he has taken but various other aspects that a normal film star would hesitate to voluntarily accept or allow in his films.

In this second slide who of 'Thala Ajith Birthday'Special' series, Indiaglitz brings you the list of such moments when Ajith dared to be different on screen.

Aasai

After making his debut as the male lead in 'Amaravathi', Ajith has been acting as lead or one of the lead actors in his next few films. In 'Aasai' directed by well established and highly acclaimed filmmaker Vasanth and producer by Mani Ratnam, Ajith was offered a role which ofcourse had the traits of a regular hero.

But his character in the film had lesser screen time and scope when compared to the villain Prakash Raj, heroine Suvalakshmi and her father Poornam Viswanathan.

Despite this Ajith managed to win accolades for his earnest performance as a kind-hearted boy-next-door who is sincere for his love and treats his lover with dignity. This is also Ajith's first genuine super hit.

Vaali

Tamil cinema has seen many villains emerging as heroes but it is a rare phenomenon where a hero dares to act as villain. This involves the question of compromising the actor's do-gooder image in the minds of audience. Those who have dared to do this at the very early stages of their career are even more less in number and Ajith is one among them.

In 'Vaali' Ajith played a deaf and dumb person who lusts for his twin brother's wife. The towering performance of Ajith in his first negative role that too as a mute person, won huge praises and this film stills remains one of the best of Ajith so far.

Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen

Today we get to see many Kollywood heroes making cameo appearances in the films of their peers. This supportiveness was not so common during the formative years of Ajith. When he was getting settled as a bankable star Ajith had no qualms in playing a lovable guest role in Karthik-Roja starrer 'Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen'. Ajith acted as the one who diplomatically gives up his wedding plans by sensing that his fiancee's true love is for someone else.

Ajith added some brownie points in his career with his charming performance in the limited screen time he got in this blockbuster directed by Vikraman.

Kandukondein Kandukondein

When this film was announced it got instant attention thanks to the casting coupe. The film directed by Rajeev Menon involved some really big names of Indian film fraternity. The film released at a time when there was literally no space for multi-starrers in Tamil cinema. Ajith who enjoyed a good deal of popularity and fan base by that time, acted as one of the three male leads in the film. Contrary to general expectation, Ajith was not paired up with Aishwarya Rai and played an aspiring filmmaker who falls in love with Tabu who is relatively less popular among the audience.

Ajith's decision to accept such a role in such an unusual film was praised by audience and critics.

Citizen

This is a usual commercial mass-hero flick but the film finds it place in this list because of the multiple getups sported by Ajith in this film. Kamal Haasan was the only main stream hero known to go in for multiple makeovers in a film, undergoing rigid and lengthy makeup sessions until then.

Ajith followed Kamal in this film as he appeared as a fisherman and in various other getups of a person disguised as an old freedom fighter, a thin bureaucrat and an obese politician.

'Citizen' despite failing to become a huge box office hit remains as one of the favourite films of Thala fans and a film that stabilised Ajith as a performance oriented actor.

Ashoka

Ajith has never hesitated to act as the baddie. After Rajinikanth and Sathyaraj he is the actor who has many fans for his capability to pull of ruthless negative characters. In his first and only Bollywood flick and historic flick Ajith acted as Susima Maurya, the treacherous half brother of King Asoka played by Shahrukh Khan.

Ajith's act as the vengeful villain in this mega budget period flick directed by Santhosh Sivan received wide appreciations form pan-Indian critics.

Mugavaree

After establishing himself as a mass action hero with films like 'Amarkalam' Ajith returned to the soft hero role with this film. He played the lead role of an aspiring music director who compromises his ambition for the welfare of his family. The role was more of a guy next door with limited heroic attributes.

Ajith's decision to act in such a film paid off well critically as well as commercially. This is considered as one of the best performances from Ajith and also helped him have a huge reach among family audience.

Villain