Page 50 - April 2021

When he was giving us these stellar performances, Khakee allowed him to experiment once again,
Devgn also worked on Ithihaas with Twinkle and the villain onscreen succeeded in even
Khanna. Then we have another delicious and making his fans hate him. Around this time his
romantic Ishq where Devgn shared screen association with Rohit Shetty also started with
space with Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, and Kajol. Zameen and went on to create huge grosser like
Even though it was the rich girl, poor boy saga, Singham. Devgan’s tough cop acts in Singham
the elements of humor, friendship, and great and Gangajal would go down as one of the
onscreen chemistry made Ishq a sure hit. And best in contemporary commercial cinema. With
around the time, the man had perfected the art Gangajal was also written a long-term association
of romance onscreen. With Pyar Tho Hona Hi with Prakash Jha and Devgn’s varied roles in
Tha, the remake of French Kiss; Ajay Devgn’s and Raajneeti and Satyagraha gave more power to
Kajol’s chemistry did wonders. Jha’s style of filmmaking. In Raincoat, Ajay Devgn
2002 went on to be a great year, not only for Ajay did justice to the quintessential Rituparno Ghosh
Devgn but also for his fans. The actor had set out protagonist. Adapted from O’Henry’s The Gift of
to experiment with various roles and the result the Magi, this poetry in motion went on to win
was something no cinema lover would complain another National Film Award.
about. From the underworld gang leader Malik However, it is Omkara that continues to be
in Company (that won if the Filmfare Critics everyone’s favorite Ajay Devgn film. Bharadwaj
choice for best actor) to the almost deranged has an art for retelling Shakespeare and when
lover and psychopath in Deewangee that won Othello gets the face of Devgn, there is little
him the Best Actor in a Negative role, Ajay Devgn to complain about. Omkara premiered at the
was set for character roles. 2002 was also the Canne Festival and Bharadwaj won the special
year when multiple versions of Bhagat Singh jury award at the National film awards.
movies were made and only Rajkumar Santoshi’s The past has seen Ajay Devgn take up all sorts of
Legend of Bhagat Singh stood apart. With projects. His directorial debut with wife Kajol in U,
Devgn’s brooding glance and an aggressive and Me Aur Hum was a dampener. Then, of course,
committed performance he not only did justice there were films like Himmatwala that needed a lot
to the revered revolutionary but also won the of Himmat to sit through and Action Jackson that
National Award yet another time. The movie also has nothing much to talk about. Singham to Son
went on to win the best Hindi feature film at the of Sardar were mass entertainers. Golmaal and
National Film Awards. Singham are among the best action and comedy
franchises of Bollywood. People
extravagantly loved the pair of
Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn!
He then worked in several
films like and Yuva, Apaharan,
Shivaay, Raid, Drishyam and
Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior
We know he has more to offer
and hope to see both mass
entertainers and character
roles. The man who wasn’t
scared to stand up for a cause
and take on YRF, the man who
has done comedy, Bollywood
herogiri, and also the brooding
protagonist only grows with
each film. We at FunAsia wish
him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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