 A role in the family drama "Poovellam Un Vasam" followed opposite Jyothika and was a success commercially and critically, earning a Special Best Actor Award from the Tamil Nadu State.The year ended off with an appearance in Santosh Sivan's Hindi project "Asoka", in which Ajith played as one of the antagonist against Shah Rukh Khan, which did not perform well.In 2002, Ajith appeared in three films, the first two, "Red" and "Raja" being box office disappointments, the former further building up his image as an action hero.