Vishal Veeru Devgan ( born April 2, 1969 in New Delhi, India), popularly known as Ajay Devgan, is a National Film Award-winning actor who appears in Hindi(Bollywood) films. Beginning his career as an action hero in the early 1990s, Devgan has since established himself as one of the actors open to serious roles in Bollywood. In 2008 he ventured into directing as well with U, Me Aur Hum, which saw him starring in the lead role alongside his wife, popular actress Kajol.

Biography

Devgan is from Punjab.His family is Punjabi Ramgharia Sikh. His father is Veeru Devgan, a stunt choreographer; his mother Veena Devgan produced one film; and his brother, Anil Devgan is a Bollywood film director. He is a graduate of Bapu School in Juhu and Mithibai College. He married popular actress Kajol on February 24, 1999. Their daughter, Nysa Devgan, was born on April 20, 2003.

Career

Devgan made his film debut with Phool Aur Kaante (1991), in which he played the son of antagonist Amrish Puri. His performance won him a Filmfare Best Debut Award. Many of his early movies were of the action genre. He worked with director Deepak Bahry on the action film Ek Hi Raasta opposite Raveena Tandon. He soon began starring in comedy films, such as Ishq in 1997.

In 1998, Devgan was the leading actor in Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, one of the biggest hits of that year. He next starred in Mahesh Bhatt's Zakhm. The film was highly acclaimed, as was his performance. He won several awards for his performance, including the coveted National Film Award for Best Actor and Star Screen Award Best Actor.

Devgan saw further success in 1999 when Sanjay Leela Bhansali cast him opposite Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai for the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, which was a critical and commercial success. Devgan's performance in the film earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare.

Devgan went on to be recognised for his association with filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, resulting in several successful projects. In 2002, the drama Company earned him his second Star Screen Award Best Actor. In the same year, his performance in Rajkumar Santoshi's The Legend of Bhagat Singh won him his second National Film Award for Best Actor.

In 2004, Devgan starred in several critically appreciated films, including Mani Ratnam's Yuva and Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat. Neither of these projects did well at the box office.

In 2006, he played the title role in the critically acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, titled Omkara.

In 2007, Devgan starred in Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, a remake of the classic film Sholay. The film was a major failure critically as well as commercially.

Devgan's first 2008 release, Halla Bol, was not a box office success, but Devgan's performance won appreciation from critics. Next came Sunday, which performed below average at the box office.

Devgan's directorial debut, U, Me Aur Hum, in which he starred opposite his wife, was released on April 11, 2008. The film performed well at the box office and received positive reports.

Devgan's latest project is Golmaal Returns, a sequel to Golmaal. Golmaal Returns surpassed the first day totals of Om Shanti Om and Singh Is Kinng.^[1]

Awards and nominations

Filmography

[edit] Actor

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1991	Phool Aur Kaante	Ajay	Winner, Filmfare Best Debut Award
1992	Jigar	Raj "Raju" Verma
1993	Dil Hai Betaab	Ajay
	Divya Shakti	Prashant Varma
	Platform	Rajoo
	Sangram	Raja S. Singh Kanwar
	Shaktiman	Amar
	Ek Hi Raasta	Karan Singh
	Bedardi	Vijay Saxena
	Dhanwaan	Kashinath
1994	Dilwale	Arun Saxena
	Kanoon	Vishal
	Vijaypath	Karan
	Suhaag	Ajay R. Sharma/Malhotra
1995	Naajayaz	Jay Bakshi	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
	Hulchul	Deva
	Gundaraj	Ajay Chauvan
	Haqeeqat	Shiva/Ajay
1996	Jung	Ajay Bahadur Saxena
	Jaan	Karan
	Diljale	Shyam
1997	Itihaas	Karan
	Ishq	Ajay Rai
1998	Major Saab	Virendra Pratap Singh
	Pyar To Hona Hi Tha	Shekhar
	Sar Utha Ke Jiyo	Special Appearance
	Zakhm	Ajay R. Desai	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award, Winner, National Film Award for Best Actor
1999	Dil Kya Kare	Anand Kishore
	Kachche Dhaage	Aftab
	Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet	Raju
	Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam	Vanraj	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
	Hindustan Ki Kasam	Ajay/Tauheed
	Gair	Vijay Kumar/Dev
	Thakshak	Ishaan Singh
2000	Deewane	Vishal/Arun
	Raju Chacha	Shekhar/Raju Chacha
2001	Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke	Vicky/Rohit Verma
	Lajja	Bulwa	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award
	Tera Mera Saath Rahen	Raj Dixit
2002	Company	Malik	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
	Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin	Raja
	The Legend of Bhagat Singh	Bhagat K. Singh	Winner, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, Winner, National Film Award for Best Actor
	Deewangee	Tarang Bharadwaj	Winner, Filmfare Best Villain Award
2003	Bhoot	Vishal
	Qayamat: City Under Threat	Rachit
	Chori Chori	Ranbir Malhotra
	Gangaajal	Amit Kumar	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
	Parwana	Parwana
	Zameen	Col. Ranvir Singh Ranawat
	LOC Kargil	Lt. Manoj Kumar Pandey
2004	Khakee	Yashwant Angre	Nominated, Filmfare Best Villain Award
	Masti	Inspector Sikander
	Yuva	Michael Mukherjee
	Taarzan: The Wonder Car	Deven Chaudhary
	Raincoat	Manoj
2005	Insan	Ajit Rathod
	Blackmail	Shekhar Mohan
	Zameer	Suraj Chauhan
	Tango Charlie	Havildar Mohammed Ali
	Kaal	Kali Pratap Singh	Nominated, Filmfare Best Villain Award
	Main Aisa Hi Hoon	Neel
	Apaharan	Ajay Shastri
	Shikhar	Gaurav Gupta
2006	Golmaal	Gopal
	Omkara	Omkara "Omi" Shukla
2007	Cash	Karan/Doc
	Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag	Hirendra Chavan (Heero)
2008	Halla Bol	Ashfaq Khan/Sameer Khan
	Sunday	ACP Rajveer Randhawa
	U, Me aur Hum	Ajay
	Mehbooba	Karan
	Naam	Shekar
	Golmaal Returns	Gopal
2009	London Dreams	Raja/Fake Rahul	Filming
	Rajniti		Filming.
	Once Upon a Time in Mumbai	Haji Mastan	Pre-production.

Producer

• Raju Chacha (2000)
• The Awakening (2006)
• U, Me aur Hum (2008)

Director

• U, Me aur Hum (2008)

Source:www.Wikipedia.org