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‘Thala’ Ajith fans are celebrating the idol's 50th birthday by kick-starting the celebrations via social media. A usual tradition of the day is to get updates on the star’s upcoming films, but due to the ongoing pandemic Ajith seems to have felt it was not the right time to celebrate his birthday publicly in any manner, considering the scale of the tragedy that is unfolding every minute in India. 

 

Producer Boney Kapoor had earlier announced that he would be unveiling the first look of Ajith from Valimai on the actor’s birthday. However, the filmmakers postponed it as a sign of respect to millions of people who have been affected by the pandemic. 

Here are five interesting facts that you should know about ‘Thala’ Ajith !

Ajith’s family:

Born in Hyderabad, India to a Bengali-speaking mother, Ajith struggled to speak in Tamil during the early days of his career. Ajith is the middle child of three children - Ajith’s elder brother Anoop Kumar is a stockbroker in New York, and his younger brother Anil Kumar, an IT graduate who’s settled in Seattle. 

 

Ajith married his co-star:

Thala Ajith began to date his Amarkalam co-star Shalini in 1999, and their relationship became the main focus of the media back then. Ajith proposed to Shalini the same year, and they both got married in 2000. Ajith and Shalini are blessed with two children, a daughter Anoushka, and a son, Aadvik.

Ajith is grounded:

Ajith is extremely down-to-earth. He seems to go the extra mile to ensure that he doesn’t throw his privilege in people’s faces. We have seen many images and videos of  the star practicing common practices just like any of us from standing in line to attending parent teacher meets where Ajith never used his star privileges. 

A racecar driver: 

Ajith seemed to have more passion for being a racecar driver than being an actor. He started his modelling career so that he can support his training to become a professional car racer. Even after making his debut as a lead actor with Amaravathi in 1993, he continued to pursue his interest in auto racing. However, after Ajith suffered a serious back injury, he started doing more movies. He has competed in circuits in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. He has also taken part in a few international races. The actor has raced in the 2003 Formula Asia BMW Championships, and the 2010 Formula 2 Championship among other prestigious championships. 

 

The first Tamil actor to dismantle fans clubs:

When he came to know that some of his fan clubs were misusing his name to raise funds, he issued a warning letter to his unruly fans. When things didn’t get better, in 2011, on his 40th birthday, he decided to dissolve all his fan clubs. While many trade analysts said that it was a wrong move from a career point of view, he still did what he felt was right at the time. But, that never stopped his fans from flooding the theatres to watch his films. 

 

Info via Behindwoods 

By Thineshkan