Ajith is back with his next potential blockbuster, Vivegam: How 'Thala' built up his super stardom

Ajith — or Thala as he is affectionately known — has one of the biggest fan bases among actors in Kollywood. He hardly does one film a year, but is still the king of big box office openings. The teaser of his latest film, Vivegam, was released at midnight on Thursday, 11 May 2017, and within an hour it had crossed 1.6 million views — making it the fastest million views for a south Indian film’s teaser. Vivegam is director Shiva’s third outing with Ajith and it is a typical action-packed entertainer. Ajith plays an Interpol agent working in a counter terrorism squad, on the hunt for the world’s biggest terrorist (played by Vivek Oberoi). The entire film has been shot amid snow-capped mountains and never-seen-before locations in Eastern Europe (probably to make it look like Kashmir) and laced with powerful punchlines. [caption id=“attachment_3437514” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Ajith Kumar in ‘Vivegam’[/caption] The stunning and stylishly shot teaser of Vivegam reeks of heroism and Ajith looks like a one-man demolition squad who is fighting the terrorists. The theme of the film is echoed by Ajith’s dialogue: “Never ever give up” and the tagline says it all — “Believe in yourself”. The tagline is sure to ring a bell with Ajith’s huge fan base, as the actor (in his early interviews) has said that he always believed in himself and made it big in Kollywood without any family or film industry connections. Vivegam teaser: Ajith Kumar dishes out crucial life lessons while dodging bullets in his latest The elusive superstar’s last release was Vedalam in 2015 (during Diwali) which was a runaway hit. His films are meant for the youth — mostly male audiences — who bring in 80 percent of the opening weekend box-office collections. No wonder then, that the actor is known as the ‘king of the opening’ as his films take “earth-shattering" collections during their opening day/weekend. The USP of Ajith is that in real life, he is a very private person and does not attend his film’s audio launches. He says his films will speak for themselves; he does not do interviews with the press. All this has created an aura around him, resulting in a huge fan base for him on social media as well. Now all eyes are on Vivegam which the makers say is a “spy thriller”, and the film is slated for release over the Independence Day weekend. The producers of the movie — Sathya Jyothi Films — the  makers of Rajinikanth;s iconic Baasha, is expected to sell Tamil Nadu theatricals for around Rs 55 crores, the highest-ever for an Ajith film. The buzz is that the cost of the film is around Rs 80 to 90 crore and it has Vivek Oberoi, Kajal Aggarwal and Akshara Haasan in supporting roles with music by Anirudh. Already, the Hindi dubbing and satellite rights have been sold at a very high price. Vivegam is expected to take Ajith to the next level of superstardom.