As Ajith Kumar's Valimai releases, tracing Tamil superstar's acting career

Tamil superstar Ajith Kumar’s film Valimai sees a gigantic worldwide release today, 24 February. Directed by H Vinoth and produced by Boney Kapoor, the action-thriller is one of the most anticipated films of this year. Featuring Huma Qureshi as the female lead opposite Kumar, Valimai was originally shot in Tamil but witnesses a simultaneous release in four languages, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. The movie has also made Rs 300 crores in pre-release business, as reported by The Times of India. Such is the buzz around Valimai that theatre reservations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are already off the charts. Valimai will see Ajith Kumar play the role of an IPS officer who who is on a mission to hunt down illegal bikers. The movie has some outrageous action scenes and stunts performed by the superstar himself. As fans gear up for a multilingual release of the film, we take a look at Kumar’s life and works: Fondly called as ‘Thala’, Ajith Kumar was born in 1971 in the city of Hyderabad. The actor dropped out of school in 1986 and ventured into the entertainment industry. He grabbed a small role in the 1990 Tamil film, En Veedu En Kanavar before making his debut as a lead actor three years later with Amaravathi. The Tamil star then took a break from movies to pursue a career in auto racing. However, he returned to acting in 1994 with a supporting role in Paasamalargal and had his breakthrough with the 1995 romantic thriller Aasai. He then earned critical and commercial success for his performance in National Award winning director Agathathiyan’s film, Kadhal Kottai. Ajith Kumar’s next high-grossing film was Kadhal Mannan in 1998 and Kumar won his first Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor with Vaalee (1999), where he played the role of twin brothers. He then forayed into method acting with Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) and it was in 2001, when the actor established himself as an action hero with director AR Murugadoss’ film, Dheena, which also earned him the nickname of ‘Thala’. The 50-year-old Tamil star had cut back on his acting career between 2003 to 2005 to focus on car racing. He participated in various races during this time such as Formula 2 Championship, Formula Asia BMW Championship and many more. The action superstar returned to Tamil cinema and starred in with several highest grossing films such as Citizen (2001), Varalaru (2006), Billa (2007), Mankatha (2011) and Yennai Arindhaal (2015). With a string of box-office hits and power-packed performances, Ajith Kumar has become the most bankable star of South Indian cinema. On the personal front, the actor began dating his Amarkalam co-star, Shalini in 1999 and they both tied-the-knot in 2000. The couple now have two children together, daughter Anoushka Kumar and son Aadvik Kumar.