From the villainous Deva in Vaali to the calm Jeevanandham in Aasal, here are the times Ajith aced more than one role in a film

Slideshows

Happy Birthday Ajith Kumar: Seven times the star held the fort with multiple roles in a film

Playing a double role in a film is considered to be the "next" step in an actor's career. Ajith has managed to crack the code as he has an almost-perfect record at the box-office with such films. Well, more the merrier, I guess.

Team CE

Updated:30th Apr, 2020 at 11:18 PM

Vaali (1999) - Deva, Shiva

This was the first time Ajith did a double role in his career, and it was considered by many as a hasty decision

However, Ajith exceeded expectations and won his first Filmfare Award for his portrayal of the brothers, Deva and Shiva

Citizen (2001) - Arivanandham and Subramani

Saravana Subbaiah was supposed to direct one more film with Ajith, titled Itihasam. However, this film, written by Sujatha, was shelved due to production issues.

There was a Kaadhal Mannan connect in this film as Pandiyan's role was first supposed to played by Gemini Ganesan

Villain (2002) - Shiva, Vishnu

This was the first collaboration between Ajith and KS Ravikumar. The story was written by Yugi Sethu

It does seem that a double role and a Filmfare go hand-in-hand for Ajith as he picked up his second award for Villain

Attagasam (2004) - Guru, Jeeva

Crossing multiple financial hurdles, the film released to much fanfare on Deepavali. And... the Thala anthem was here to stay

Saran, in an interview, revealed that Ajith accommodated his dates for this film to help the director helm the Kamal haasan-starrer Vasool Raja

Varalaaru (2006) - Jeeva, Shivshankar, Vishnu

After multiple financial issues, title and smoking controversies, the film released on Diwali 2006 and became one of the biggest hits in his career. Ajith won his third Filmfare

The film was initially written for Kamal Haasan. Many heroes were skeptical to take up the film due to the characterisation of the protagonist.

Billa (2007) - David Billa and Saravanavelu

Vishnuvardhan wanted to direct an original film with Ajith but later zeroed in on the Billa remake. This was just the second time a Tamil film was remade in Tamil itself

This was the first collaboration between Ajith and Nayanthara who would go on to star in multiple blockbuster films. Ajith was nominated for a Filmfare

Aasal (2010) - Shiva and Jeevanandham

Ajith was credited as an assistant director in this film. Saran revealed that Ajith wanted to do away with the usual masala cliches and deliver an international film

While Harris Jayaraj and Yuvan Shankar Raja were speculated to be part of the project, it ultimately became the 50th film for Saran and Ajith's frequent collaborator, Bharadwaj