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¤¤ Ajith's 50th movie ¤ Mankatha ¤ VP ¤ U1 ¤ D.Alagiri ¤¤

Topic started by steveaustin on Thu Dec 31 11:49:52 2009.

I have to say that it was a winter morning out of a poet's dreams. Everything that can ever be part of any fantasy idyll seemed to be in place. It had to happen some time. His efforts had to pay-off and now on to celebration time! Twilight, golden twilight! There has always been a certain mysterious quality to it. Certain magic that even the greatest of poets and painters have struggled to define, to interpret. It has been a long, long wait. When will he do it? With whom? Under which banner? How much time will we have to prepare for it? These were some of the questions that the media had to contend with as the fans looking forward to USA's 50th movie. Finally the Hitchcock suspense had been broken.

While I was watching Tamil Padam programme in Kalaignar TV on the Christmas day, Dayanidhi Alagiri to everyone's surprise has announced that he is doing Ajith's 50th movie under his Cloud 9 movies banner. But I am still not sure. According to the grapevine, his 50th movie is going to be directed by none other than Gautam Vasudev Menon who was earlier named as the director of his 49th movie but only to be removed later.

As I cherished the magic of your movies,
Journeying all along the way with determination -
Is our Hero of heroes still in action - a
Tremendous performer in cine field,
Has set an example for the younger generations

that success is the fruit of 3D. (Dedication, Devotion and Determination) He will always take a five star rating. Here, in the Eliot's phrase, "name and image meet".

He is the absolute master of the white rectangle. He is colourful character who is good for the cinefield. In the mind's eye the images always stay with us. Words can't capture the essence of his grace, but a tiny piece of celluloid can.

An outstanding piece of lensmanship from Nirav Shah in BILLA.

When the curtains goes up

A hush settles on the theatre, and as the crowd comes thundering in, the title card shown, the spectators let off a roar, and when the magic man appears on the screen, there's a thunderous ovation with waves of noise breaking the ears even they might reach the sky. The drama has been enacted times without number. Exhilarating stuff. Ever since he burst on the scene 17 years ago, he has to come up with special brand of 'affection'.... every time fans swarming the theatres during his movie release. That's the price of fame. For the fans, Ajith has always been a friendly hero. The man who turned 38 few months back, is already winner of 3 Film Fare awards, is also gifted with a winning theatrical presence both on and off-screens. To this day, he is Ultimate Star who has a special place in the hearts of many of his fans. Ajith is morphing from workhorse back to show horse, paving the way for superstars race with a series of hits.

Optical Illusion

Very few have ever managed to win fame on their own. The point about Ultimate Star is, he is an optical illusion. Emotional but calm. Outspoken but keep his mouth shut. Talented but doing routine masala movies..... it goes on and on. So, what is it? Truth or media hype? What is his connection to all the above mentioned. I personally think, it's hard to say. Whenever he is performing under the reputed directors every movie seems to set the cash registers ringing. Ajith has had more falls than a professional parachutist. But the Ultimate Star seldom falls to failure..... almost always, he does it to conquer. There are times when even the greatest actors wish that the earth under them would open up and gobble them up. But, then, on-screen, there is no place to hide. Every one loved him because he had more than a bit of the lone ranger in his personality. His greatness lies in his honesty as an actor and in his rich ability and uncompromising attitude in any conditions.

Even when Einstein wrote his paper on the theory of relativity in 1905, it took about 10 years for E=MC2 to become famous. Likewise, Ajith turned the TFI upside down with Vaali only after 7 years of experience in the TFI. As we approached the end of the twentieth century, we have witnessed the emergence of a new kind of social scientist - the non-verbalist actor in the form of Ajith in Vaali. Charlie Chaplin and few other silent movie actors were the pioneers of non-verbal communication skills; they were the only means of communication available on the screen to them. Each actor was classed as good or bad by the extent to which he could use gestures and other body signals to communicate effectively. When talking films became popular and less emphasis was placed on the non-verbal aspects of acting, many silent movie actors faded into obscurity and those with good verbal skills prevailed. But Ajith has broken this barrier in the talking films with his amazing non-verbal communication skills in Vaali. IMO, for those who have criticized his dialogue delivery may understand that non-verbal communication skill is a main part of acting. when the actor can convey the message to the audience very easily with his non-verbal gestures along, there is no need for the emphasis on the dialogues. If you ask me, he can survive even in the days of silent movies.

As far as the technical study of body language goes, perhaps the most influential pre-twentieth century work was Charles Darwin's 'The expression of the emotions in Man and Animals' published in 1872. Since then, most of the researchers generally agreed that more than two-thirds of communication is done non-verbally. For example, in Vaali, Ajith (Deva) gave Ajith (Siva) a 'look to kill' in one scene; he conveyed it very clearly without opening his mouth. Many people find difficulty in accepting that humans are still biologically animals. For me acting is dominated by biological rules that control the actions, reactions, body language and gestures. Since non-verbal communication skills are mostly in born, I may call him as a natural actor. The born blind children's smiling expressions occur independently without copying or learning means that these must be inborn gestures. In an interview Vishnuvardhan, the BILLA director has opined that whenever Ajith smiles, even his eyes also starts to smile. That's we may call as a true smile. His skills and style speak volumes for his acting.

INEVITABLY now, our USA has reached the important milestone of his career. i.e. 50th movie. Let us first sift the statistical evidence. It took 17 long years for Ajith to reach the magical figure of 50 movies. So far, he has got 4 film fare awards in his 48 films. i.e., an ward for every 12 films on an average.

Ajith rings the number 50!

After all, this is an age when almost every one has a finger on fast forward button. People are happy to get through with a 3 hour movie in one hour on the video screen. But Ajith is an entertainer par excellence. There are not enough characters left in the modern cinema. This is all the more reason, why one should appreciate an actor like Ajith who offers pure entertainment. It is a fascinating 50! It may give him a Five star feeling. Be it in charm or performance or style, he has kept the crowds captivated. He is a sheer magician who has the ability to conjure rabbits from a top hat. Ajith has done it all, and given us some wonderful performances to remember along the way in his short career spanning over 17 years. I personally feel that success for an artiste is not depending on the success of the films but remembered for their performances in those films. Hence, I hope that Ajith may look forward to better days, better projects, characters which would have got enough scope for performance and has to stay in the minds of audiences.

What's so hot about 50!

Numbers play an important part in Feng Shui and the number of similar objects in a room may influence fortune. Just as 'two's company' and 'three's a crowd' in western culture, numbers in Chinese folklore too comes fraught with superstition and charms. From the Feng Shui perspective, the Chinese believe that imperial dragons have five claws. There are five major points to the Chinese compass because the four major directions require a centre to unite them. Thus making the number five a very luck number indeed. Five and multiples of five are considered very auspicious. Days and nights in our lives are 50:50. Heads and tails in a coin 50: 50. Better / bitter half too 50:50. Fifty-50 commonly express ultimate in equal partnership.

Equanimity

He has always lead a life of controlled emotions. He is certainly not the type to go jumping or dancing or giving interviews to the media around in elation when his movies become hit. It is just not there in his character. He is cool to the point of being disdainful. One day he reaches the top of Mount Everest and the next day he falls into the deepest point of Challenger deep sea trench (Mariana) of West Pacific. It is such a career graph that he had. It is absolutely unpredictable that whether his movie is going to become big hit or flop. I really don't know where he hides emotions as far as the Box Office results of his movies is concerned. May be, that is why he is able to take so many failures in his stride. Over the years - right from the time he began his career, criticism which he faced - he has learnt to take the rough with the smooth with Kiplingesque equanimity.

He loves a challenge. Even a life threatening accidents have not defeated him. He is indeed a man who believes in the motto, "What's life, without a challenge?" Well, he is not only a survivor but also the conqueror.

Whether human beings are total masters of their own destiny or not, then certainly there comes a chance in everyone's life to rise above the ordinary and reshape his own destiny. For Ajith, that moment has come in the form of his 50th movie with Gautam Vasudev Menon. Then again, the problem is Mr. Destiny does not knock on the door to let him know that the moment has come and remind him that he should grab his chance. Since already Mr. Destiny has knocked his door twice or thrice, but somehow he has missed out Mr. Destiny. This is a perfect springboard for Ajith to launch himself to surpassing glory. It's boom time for Ajith. At the moment, many of us may have the strange feeling that may be at last Ajith had kicked the malevolent spirits that have haunted him in Kollywood for several years. Now Ajith fans realised two dreams at once is rather extraordinary but the one question exercised the minds of his fans and critics alike after the experience of the past one year - a time when there was no Ajith release - is whether he prefer right Directors and producers in future to release his movies at the right time. Can Ajith turn the clock back to his dominant days? i.e. late 90s and earlier 2000s. It would be a jewel in the crown for Ajith if he returns with a Box Office Block Buster later this year with his 50th movie. Ajith fans community salutes our hero on a truly fantastic achievement of acting in 50 movies. We can only keep fingers crossed and hope for the best.


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