On Ajith Kumar's birthday, recalling the time when he spoke of his love story with wife Shalini. (Photo: Sreedhar Pillai/Twitter)Tamil superstar Ajith Kumar has turned 51 today. The star is notorious for his elusiveness. It has been a long time since he gave an interview of any sort to the media. He’s kind of old-school when it comes to even promoting his film. You don’t see Ajith talk about his movie before or after its release. And still, his movies manage to make record-breaking opening day collections. Not many stars command such a fan following, perhaps other than Rajinikanth and Vijay.
However, he was not always like that. There was a time when Ajith used to take questions from the media and appear on television to promote his films. While promoting his movie Billa (2007), he had taken part in a special talk show hosted by comedy actor Santhanam.
During the 40-minute discussion, he shared a lot about his life, from his early childhood to why he was growing more and more reserved as a movie star. He discussed the kind of relationship he shares with his wife Shalini, whom he called his worst critic.
Ajith and Shalini on the sets of Amarkalam. Ajith claimed that he was destined to marry Shalini. Ajith fell in love with Shalini while shooting for the romantic drama Amarkalam (1999)
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“When the producers of Amarkalam approached Shalini, she had no interest in acting. She was keen on pursuing her education. The producers then asked me if I could try to convince her. So I called Shalini and I said, ‘I’m Ajith Kumar and I’d like to work with you. Even the producers are also keen on it.’ She said, ‘No. I don’t want to act. I want to study.’ And I let it be. But after a lot of convincing by the producer, she committed herself to the movie. I think we were destined to meet,” he said.
He revealed it was love at first sight for him. “During the first shot we did together, I cut her wrist by accident. But she continued acting. Only much later did we realise that she was bleeding for real. I think it started there,” he recalled.
Ajith described Shalini as his main support system and worst critic. “She is my hardcore critic. At times, friends will be kind of diplomatic and say the film was good. But, when it comes to Shalini, she is very frank. She is very honest about her views on everything. And she won’t interfere in scripts. But, she is my wife, the focal point of my life, so I share a lot of things with her,” he noted.
After falling in love on the sets of Amarkalam, Ajith and Shalini got married in 2000. And they have a daughter and a son together.
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