Today Ilayathalapathy Vijay is celebrating his 44th birthday. Happy Birthday..!!
When it comes to Tamil cinema, there are very few actors other than Rajinikanth who command a widespread fan following and devotion. One of the rare few is Vijay. Fondly called as Ilayathalapathy by his fans, he is known as the darling of the masses.
One can easily categorise Vijay’s film career into three phases – the lover Vijay, the fighter Vijay and the star Vijay. After Poove Unakaga’s massive success, Vijay mostly stuck to romance and family dramas. The actor was slowly climbing up the ladder with some interesting collaborations (Once More with Sivaji Ganesan, Nerukku Ner with Suriya) and hits. And then Kadhalukku Mariyadhai happened. Fazil’s take on inter-religion relationships turned out to be a blockbuster. Vijay was in a comfortable space. The actor continued to explore romance, relationships, drama, humour, dance and a bit of action. He had five back-to-back successes — Kushi, Priyamanavale, Friends, Badri and Shahjahan. This was followed by Tamizhan, arguably the first dominant ‘message movie’ from the Vijay stable. Not very far after, Bhagavathi will mark the second phase, one that will be filled with action and ‘mass’ elements, laying the ground for ‘Star Vijay’ to kick in.
After the success of Ghilli, Thirupachi and Pokkiri, Vijay seemed to have found a new operational zone. Maybe, he got a tad too comfortable. Back to back failures rolled out ending with his 50th Sura turning out to be a massive dud. It was time for course correction and here begins the chapter of ‘Star Vijay’.
Vijay’s career is similar to Superstar he admires. Rajini’s ‘villain-hero-superstar’ journey had similar roadblocks. And there is also the dalliance with politics. Similar to Rajini, there have been several instances where speculations predicted him to take the plunge. In fact, there are unconfirmed stories that SAC wanted Vijay to join the DMK party as Stalin’s successor (Stalin is popularly known as Thalapathy). Well, Rajini has now announced his entry. It has taken Vijay 26 years to become the Thalapathy.
Here are some Interesting facts about Ilayathalapathy Vijay:
- Worked as a child artist
Vijay’s father S.A. Chandrasekhar was the man who launched him in the world of cinema. But before making his debut as a lead in 1992 in ‘Naalaiya Theerpu’, the actor began his acting journey as a child artist way back in 1984. In fact, from 1984 to 1988, Ilayathalapathy appeared as a child artist in over six films, all directed by his father. Thus, the actor had a solid foundation in acting well before his actual debut as a lead.
- Vijay is an avid philanthropist
Ilayathalapathy is not called the darling of the masses without a reason. Time and again, he has shown immense concern for the common people and has regularly participated in charity work throughout his life. What’s more, he started his own social welfare organization called ‘Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ which now carries out most of his philanthropic work for him. His fans also participate in blood donation drives on a yearly basis.
- A hardcore Rajinikanth fan
The actor has often said that if it was not for Rajinikanth, he would have never entered the world of cinema. Vijay is a hardcore Thalaivar fan and it was the veteran actor who truly inspired him to become an actor. In fact, according to some reports, the actor landed a role as a lead actor after an audition which he got thanks to him quoting a famous line from Rajinikanth’s hit film ‘Annamalai’.
- Devoted to his family
Vijay is extremely devoted to his late sister Vidhya. His sister passed away when he was nine and this affected him deeply. In fact, in her memory, he even named half of his production house after her. The Ilayathalpathy’s production house- V.V Productions actually stands for Vidhya-Vijay productions. This shows how much love he still holds for his departed sibling.
- Bollywood cameos
Although mostly restricted to Tamil, Vijay did make a blink and miss appearance in a Bollywood film. In Akshay Kumar’s flick ‘Rowdy Rathore’, the South star appears at the end of the ‘Chinta Ta Ta’ song along with director Prabhudheva and shakes a leg with Akshay. Interestingly, Akshay then went on to remake Vijay’s super hit film ‘Thupakki’ as ‘Holiday’ in Hindi.
- Most famous non-Malayali actor in Kerala
Other than perhaps Allu Arjun, Vijay is the only non-Malayali actor who has a massive fan following in Kerala. In fact, he is one of the biggest box office kings in the state and his thriller film ‘Theri’ was such a big hit in Kerala that it managed to defeat many Malayalam films in the process.
- Endless awards and a doctorate
Thanks to his endless contribution to cinema and to society, Vijay has received a ton of awards in his career, including three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Kalaimamani – which is one of the highest honours in the field of art and an honorary doctorate from MGR University. The most incredible fact of all is that he got the Kalaimamani way back in 1998, in just six years of entering the industry.
Rare Pics:
Also Read: Thalapathy Vijay’s 62nd Film Title and First Look Poster revealed
Post Your Comments