Thala...

[Pic Courtesy Sify]
Its definitely crunch time for Ajith. But then again, the actor has faced a lot of such crunch times throughout his career. He has seen more ups and downs than a seesaw and though he has been written off a number of times, he has always managed to bounce back. With a string of flops(anyone remember what his last bonafide hit was?), a long break from acting, problems with movies that he signed on, a mediocre performance by his comeback vehicle Paramasivan and a megaflop in Tirupathi(never mind the 106th day celebrations!), the actor seems to be at another crisis point in his career. The next few months will be crucial but on the bright side, the way things look right now, he does seem poised for another upswing in his career.

His personal life is definitely going great guns. He and Shalini have been married 6 years and seem very happy together. She is by his side at all the public functions he attends and is definitely good moral support. They looked great together at the Surya-Jo wedding and Ajith looked smart and well-dressed.

But the picture's not so rosy when it comes to his career though. We've had quite a few films face problems before release but Godfather would probably take home the prize for the movie that took the longest time to release. It has now been renamed Varalaaru to take advantage of the Government's tax-cut for movies with Tamil names and finally seems set to hit the screens for Diwali. With Ajith playing 3 roles and the usually reliable masala director K.S.Ravikumar behind the camera, Ajith's fans will be hoping for a good thala deepavali!

The actor is now onto his next film Aalwaar. Stills from the film show that the actor has put on some weight again. So he doesn't look as haggard as he did in Paramasivan or Tirupathi and looks as he did in the Dheena days. But I'm hoping this was a planned weight gain that is within his control. Or he's again gonna end up looking bloated as he did in movies like Ji. Aalwaar will hit the screens for Pongal and will go up against Vijay's Pokkiri. The last time the 2 actors' films released on the same day (again on Pongal), Ajith won out since his Paramasivan fared better than Aadhi. Wonder who will be the box-office winner next year...

After Aalwaar, Ajith is slated to act in Kireedam. Based on the name and the news that Rajkiran has an important role as his father, I'm wondering if the film will be a remake of Mohanlal's classic of the same name. That movie was about a constable's son eventually turning into a rowdy. We've had movies like Thamizh tackle the same subject of a regular guy unwillingly becoming a rowdy and if it is indeed a remake of the Malayalam film, Kireedam will have to do something new to seem sufficiently different. But the story does have a lot of potential to be turned into a good entertainer.

One can't talk about Ajith and not talk about Naan Kadavul. Though the whole fiasco is blamed on Bala and the producer and Ajith is credited with having acted like a thorough gentleman, one feels that it is he who suffered the bigger loss. Keeping in mind what Bala's films like Sethu, Nandhaa and Pithaamagan did for their actors, the movie would have been a golden chance for Ajith to prove himself as an actor. That chance has now gone to Arya, who grabbed it with both hands. The publicity stills are intriguing and point to strong spiritual and religious overtones in the film. Hopefully, Ajith's other films turn out to be hits and lessen his regret at missing out on Naan Kadavul.

Good Luck Ajith!