Amarkalam (1999)

Vasu is an angry, rootless young man who lives in a disused cinema hall and earns his keep with his fists, cut off from a past he will not speak about. When he takes Mohana, a spirited young woman, hostage, she refuses to be cowed, and her defiance and kindness begin to crack his hard shell, until the truth about his origins and a dangerous figure from his past come back to claim him. Amarkalam was directed by Saran, who had made Kadhal Mannan with Ajith, and it was the actor's 25th film and one of his early action hits. It is also famous off-screen: Ajith and Shalini fell in love during the shoot and married in 2000. Bharadwaj's songs, including 'Satham Illatha Thanimai', were popular.