Monday, February 25, 2008
Biography
First Name: Vishal
Last Name: Devgan
Nick Name: Ajay
Birthdate: 2nd Apr
Star Sign Aries
Eye Colour: Black
Height: 5 ' 8"
Profession: Modeling & Acting
Spouse: Kajol(24 February 1999 - present)1 child
Family: Veeru Devgan
Phone Number: 022 - 6200253, 6201977, 620 0862
Address: Sea Cliff, 1st Floor, Gandhigram Road, Juhu
Apparently, action director Veeru Devgan knew his son would become a
famous star the moment he saw his little baby's intense eyes through
a camera lens. Sure enough, the son proved his father right by
burning holes through the silver screen with his smouldering eyes.
Today, he's considered the only real successor to Amitabh Bachchan's
'angry young man', for all the passion he pours into reclusive
characters waiting to explode in the manner of dormant volcanoes.
No mean feat for a man who was initially considered a good stunt
hero, but by no stretch of imagination, a genuine actor. In fact,
when Ajay burst on to the scene performing daredevil feats and
simultaneously riding two motorcycles in 'Phool Aur Kaante' (1991),
the everlasting image he left in the minds of moviegoers was that of
a man who was prepared to fight his way through the prevalent wave of
mushy romances.
In the initial years, Ajay stayed faithful to this hard-earned image
and continued to vindicate the cause of good versus evil in action
bonanzas like 'Jigar' (1992), 'Divyashakti' (1993), 'Vijaypath'
(1994) and 'Hulchul' (1995).
Somewhere in the middle of all the on-screen violence and
breathtaking stunts, softer roles like that of a man wrongly confined
to an asylum in 'Dilwale' (1994) and the illegitimate son of a
gangster who grows up to become an upright police officer in
'Naajayaz' (1995) came his way.
Gradually, he moved to softer roles with future wife Kajol in the
light-hearted comedy 'Ishq' (1997) and the fluffy romance 'Pyaar To
Hona Hi Tha'. Perhaps it was the success of these films or a desire
to move away from the beaten track that prompted Ajay to cut down his
workload and concentrate on quality.
By this time, he had already entered the business of film
distribution. For 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha', he personally designed the
entire marketing and publicity strategy and pulled off a winner!
The film that saw Ajay finally come into his own as an actor was
Mahesh Bhatt's 'Zakhm'. A difficult role for any actor, Ajay had to
play the part of a man who gets caught in Bombay's communal crossfire
when his mother is killed by a rioting mob. He followed this up with
an equally powerful performance in 'Kachche Dhaage' (1999).
And then came the crowning glory of his successful foray into the
sensible end of commercial cinema: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Hum Dil
De Chuke Sanam' (1999), where he actually lent conviction to a man
who is desperate to reunite his wife (Aishwarya Rai) with her
ex-lover (Salman Khan) despite being madly in love with her.
His association with the talented director from the off-mainstream
cinema, Govind Nihalani, though, didn't yield the kind of results
both men would have expected. And although Ajay was his usual
efficient self, 'Thakshak' (1999) fell flat on its face.
Meanwhile, Ajay had tied the knot with long-time girlfriend, Kajol,
settled down to blissful matrimony and expanded the scope of his
business interests by venturing into film production with Veeru
Devgan's 'Hindustan Ki Kasam'. The film bombed at the box-office
despite Ajay's sincere double role and Amitabh Bachchan's towering
presence.
His next project, 'Dil Kya Kare', which was directed by Prakash Jha
and featured Kajol and Mahima Choudhary, too failed to charm the
box-office. But that hasn't stopped Ajay from putting his heart on
'Raju Chacha' which is being directed by his cousin, Anil Devgan.
Both Ajay and Kajol are personally supervising the production,
besides acting in the film.
And now it seems, this man of few words is ready to try his hand at
direction as well. While there has been no formal announcement so
far, it is definitely the next logical step in his cinematic
evolution.
Filmography
1. London Dreams (2009) (in production)
2. Toonpur Ka Superhero (2008) (filming)
3. Golmaal Returns (2008) (filming) .... Gopal
4. U, Me Aur Hum (2008) (post-production) .... Ajay
5. Sunday (2008) .... ACP Rajveer Randhava
6. Halla Bol (2008) .... Ashfaque/Sameer Khan
7. Mr. Fraud (2007)
8. Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) .... Heero
9. Cash (2007) .... Karan 'Doctor'
10. Benaam (2007)
11. The Awakening (2006)
12. Omkara (2006) .... Omkara 'Omi' Shukla
13. Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006) .... Gopal
14. Shikhar (2005) .... Gaurav Gupta
15. Apaharan (2005) .... Ajay Shastri
16. Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005) .... Indraneel "Neel" Thakur
17. Kaal (2005) .... Kaali Pratap Singh
18. Tango Charlie (2005) .... Havaldar Mohammed Ali (Mike Alpha)
19. Zameer (2005) .... Suraj Chauhan
20. Blackmail (2005) .... Shekhar Mohan
21. Insan (2005) .... Inspector Ajit Rathod
22. Taarzan: The Wonder Car (2004) .... Deven Chaudhary
23. Raincoat (2004) .... Manoj 'Mannu'
24. Yuva (2004) .... Michael Mukherjee
25. Masti (2004) .... Inspector Sikander
26. Khakee (2004) .... Yashwant Angre, Former Police Officer
27. LOC: Kargil (2003) .... Lt. Manoj Kumar Pandey, 1/11 Gurkha
Rifles
28. Zameen (2003) .... Col. Ranvir Singh Ranawat
29. Parwana (2003) .... Parwana
30. Gangaajal (2003) .... Amit Kumar
31. Chori Chori (2003) .... Ranbir Malhotra
32. Qayamat: City Under Threat (2003) .... Rachit
33. Bhoot (2003) .... Vishal
34. Deewangee (2002) .... Tarang Bharadwaj
35. The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) .... Bhagat K. Singh
36. Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (2002) .... Raja
37. Company (2002) .... Mallik
38. Tera Mera Saath Rahen (2001) .... Raj Dixit
39. Lajja (2001) .... Bulwa
40. Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke (2001) .... Vicky/Rohit Verma
41. Raju Chacha (2000) .... Shekhar/Raju chacha
42. Deewane (2000) .... Vishal/Arun
43. Thakshak (1999) .... Ishaan Singh
44. Gair (1999) .... Vijay Kumar/Dev
45. Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999) .... Ajay/Tauheed
46. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) .... Vanraj
47. Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet (1999) .... Raju
48. Dil Kya Kare (1999) .... Anand Kishore
49. Kachche Dhaage (1999) .... Aftab
50. Zakhm (1998) .... Ajay R. Desai
51. Sar Utha Ke Jiyo (1998) .... Special Appearance
52. Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998) .... Shekhar
53. Major Saab (1998) .... Virendra Pratap Singh
54. Ishq (1997) .... Ajay Rai
55. Itihaas (1997) .... Karan
56. Jung (1996) .... Ajay Bahadur Saxena
57. Diljale (1996) .... Shyam
58. Jaan (1996) .... Karan
59. Haqeeqat (1995) .... Shiva/Ajay
60. Gundaraj (1995) .... Ajay Chauvan
61. Hulchul (1995) .... Deva
62. Naajayaz (1995) .... Inspector Jay Bakshi
63. Suhaag (1994) .... Ajay R. Sharma/Ajay R. Malhotra
64. Vijaypath (1994) .... Karan
65. Kanoon (1994) .... Vishal
66. Dilwale (1994) .... Arun Saxena
67. Dhanwaan (1993) .... Kashinath
68. Dil Hai Betaab (1993) .... Ajay
69. Shaktiman (1993) .... Amar
70. Platform (1993) .... Rajoo
71. Divya Shakti (1993) .... Prashant Varma
72. Bedardi (1993) .... Vijay Saxena
73. Ek Hi Raasta (1993) .... Karan Singh
74. Sangram (1993) .... Raja S. Singh Kanwar
75. Jigar (1992) .... 'Raju' Raj Verma
76. Phool Aur Kaante (1991) .... Ajay