The big question in Tamil Cinema today is who is going to inherit the mantle of the new generation superstar after Rajnikant and Kamal Hassan? Industry pundits say that it is a toss up between Ajith and Vijay. At the fag end of 2000, Ajith clearly seems ahead of Vijay, though the coming Pongal will clearly decide the winner.

Ajith, a school dropout became a race-driver. But after two accidents, he had to give up speed driving and ended up as a salesman in a garment export firm. Then he set up his own business, which also failed to take off. It was his modeling career that got him a few film offers.

Ajith with his clean cut good looks found the going hard, as his films did not do well. The Tamil film industry wrote him off, they said he had typical Aryan looks and only those with Dravidian looks have proved successful. He tried his luck one last time with Agathian's KATHAL KOTTAI, which not only won a national award, but was also a super-hit at the box-office.

But the problem for Ajith was that he was too immature to handle the success of KATHAL KOTTAI, which resulted in a string of flops. It was at this time his best friend decided to make a different movie with him with a young director Surya. They rehashed DARR and BAAZIGAR and the result was VALEE, released in May 1999, a month after Rajnikanth's PADAYAPPA. VALEE was a mega hit, that overnight made Ajith a superstar.

VALEE was followed by AMARKALAM where he was paired for the first time with Shalini. AMARKALAM not only become a super hit, but also he fell in love with its heroine Shalini, who became his wife after a breezy romance. The marriage has stabilized Ajith, who had earlier a wild womanizer reputation. In fact he was living with his KATHAL KOTTAI second heroine Heera Rajagopal.

Recently, Ajith told a friend: "I have been immature and made many blunders in my life. But Shalu (Shalini) has stabilized my life and I am having a good life now." He is very possessive about Shalini and has sworn that she will never act again. Ajith admits that he does not like his wife to continue acting. He has a point because there can't be two celebrities under the same roof.

There is no need for Shalini to act again, because Ajith is doing really well and is one of the few actors who gets over a crore per film and that too in Tamil. Ajith's KANDUKONDAIN KANDUKONDAIN, where he had a cameo role has been appreciated even in Mumbai and northern India where they will never accept a Dravidian hero. Ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan has just completed a schedule with him for his magnum opus ASHOKA THE GREAT, where he plays Shah Rukh Khan's younger brother. King Khan was so impressed with Ajith that he as the producer asked Sivan to extend Ajith's role.

But Ajith has no illusions about Bollywood. For the moment he is preoccupied with Tamil films. Releasing this Pongal is DHEENA, an action movie where he plays a rowdy. This will be followed by CITIZEN, where he plays nine roles. At the moment he is riding a waver, after Rajnikant and Kamal Hassan he has the best initial at the box-office. It looks like he is going to occupy the top slot for quite some time to come.