THE UNTOLD BACKSTORY OF AJITH'S DRIVE TO OOTY!

We have been constantly reporting articles about Ajith, as part of the BW Thala Special birthday campaign, which is coming to an end today, as the Vedalam actor has turned 46 today (May 1). We got in touch with director Saran, who has made the most number of films with Ajith. He started his career with the film Kadhal Mannan starring Ajith Kumar and then, went on to direct Thala Ajith in 3 others films namely, Amarkalam, Attagasam, and Asal. Saran shares his interesting experiences to us:  

“When I approached Ajith for my debut film Kadhal Mannan, he gave me a heads up within 2 minutes. He said he knew I was good at the craft of filmmaking as I was a former assistant of K.Balachander. While shooting for Kadhal Mannan, Ajith had a chocolate boy image. We had a huge problem in the cine industry after the first schedule of Kadhal Mannan. There was no shooting happening anywhere for seven months because of a strike, and I was devastated as it was my precious, first project. Ajith sir called me and gave me reassurance that we may go ahead and edit and dub the canned portions. This gave us hope to move forward, and we went on to complete it successfully.

After this film, I wanted to make an action based project with Ajith sir when I started writing Amarkalam. Everything was going good, but I had a confusion when I approached the climax. I told Ajith sir about it. He suddenly asked me to pack my bags and come down. When I went outside my house, he was waiting in his car, and he asked me to get in. He said we were going on a trip to Ooty and that we will decide about the climax there. So we headed to Ooty, and once we reached there, we stayed there for four days when I gained clarity.

On the way to Ooty, Ajith sir wanted to listen to one song that had been composed for our Amarkalam, and he listened to it throughout the journey of 8 hours! Yes, it used to take 14 hours to Ooty when a normal driver drives the car but it was Ajith who was on the wheel and what would you expect? After Ooty, we had decided on the climax, and our action entertainer was ready. Amarkalam became a huge success, and I was extremely happy.

Next was my Attagasam which I had titled because the project was something based on atrocity. Ajith sir was a very busy artist then, and we could get only 2 or 2.5 days of a shoot at a stretch. Nevertheless, he gave his cooperation, and we completed it with the help of our unit which always was ready to be flexible with sir’s dates.

My 4th and last film with Ajith sir was Asal. I really hope to work with him very soon. If at all I get a call from him someday, it means a project is on and that we are rolling. Hoping for the best for my next and it was a pleasurable experience recollecting these memories.”