Honours for Talent-Vijay

Honours for talent
Tamil actor Vijay, the best among the heroes of his generation, was
recently honoured a doctorate by Dr MGR University, writes KK Moidu


20 TIME OUT The Gulf Today / Thursday, September 6, 2007

Vijay and veteran director
Shankar, two
sought-after film personalities,
were conferred
a doctorate for
their immense contribution to the
film industry. The Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)
chief, G Madhavan Nambiar presented
the honorary doctorate to
Vijay at MGR University last
month. He said Vijay deserved the
honour because he served as “a
role model for the youth” in his
films.
However, Vijay appealed to his
innumerable fans to avoid using
‘doctor’ before his name during a
function held to celebrate the 126th
day of the superhit Pokkiri, a
Telugu remake of the Tamil film.
He also promised he will remain
their intimate Vijay.
Vijay is a success guaranteed
hero and has delivered many blockbusters
in his career. He is a hero of
the masses and a safe bet at the box
office.
The name ‘Vijay’ means victory
and the super star of Tamil films
has proved the name to be appropriate
and continues his success journey.
Vijay’s forthcoming film
Azhagiya Thamizh Magan (ATM)
has made adequate money even
before its release. According to
reports, producer Appachan has
made enough money from ATM.
The movie has made a new record
among Vijay films in terms of business.
Pyramid Saimira Theatres had
brought the worldwide distribution
rights of the film for a massive
amount of Rs25 crores.
ATM, directed by debutante
Bharathan, will hit the screen on
Deepavali. Bharathan was an assistant
of director Dharani and he also
served as a dialogue writer in
Vijay’s superhit film Ghilli.
Vijay w i l l h a v e t w o heroines
in ATM — Shriya
Saran and Namitha.
The fans of Vijay are eagerly waiting for
the release of the film,
one of the r e a s o n s being he is showing his chest
on the screen for the first time. Like other Vijay films, songs will play an important role and his fans are
waiting for his chic dance movements.
One of the songs in the film was
picturised on Phuket beach in
Thailand with the glamorous
Namitha. Another romantic duet
with Shriya will be noticed by the
catchy locales of Switzerland.
Director cum choreographer
Prabhu Deva, a dance wizard, has
also agreed to do a number for the
film. The music is by AR
Rehman. ATM is Vijay’s
45th film and it promises to be a
pure entertainer.
Vijay not only plays the lead role
in the film but will also sing a song
in it. His earlier recordings have
proved his vocal ability in films like
Sachein, Bagavathi etc.
In Thamizhan, he sang with costar
Priyanka Chopra. Vijay did the
playback singing for Surya in
Periyanna and for Vignesh in Velai.
He sang the song Oormilaa
Oormilla for the film Once More
and Thottabetta Rottu Melae for
Vishnu with his mother Shoba.
After completing Azhagiya
Tamizh Magan, Vijay and
director Dharani teamed up
again in Kuruvi. Their earlier
film Ghilli was a moneyspinner
and it was one of
the most memorable films
of Vijay’s career. Ghilli, a
remake of the Telugu film
Okkadu, was a delightful
start to his career and the
movie took his career to a
new horizon.
Kuruvi, the big-budget
film, will be produced by
Udhayanidhi Maran, the
grandson of Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi. It is a rich
commercial entertainer
with a lot of action and
adventure.
The title Kuruvi
does not mean the
‘chatter-bird’ in the
film. The film tells the story of a
young man who makes his living as
a ‘Kuruvi’. He lives in Burma
Bazaar in Chennai and goes to
Singapore and Malaysia as a ‘courier’
and comes back with forbidden
items. He lands in Singapore without
appropriate documents and the
cops suspect him to be a smuggler.
In order to prove his innocence, he
uses his brain and muscle power
against the underworld. The music
for the film is composed by
Vidhyasagar. According to reports
Malayalam film industry leading
lady Nayanthara will play the
female lead in the film, the first
time she is pairing opposite Vijay.
She earlier did an item number in
the Vijay starrer Sivakasi, where
Asin played the heroine.
The trio Vijay-Dharani-
Vidhyasagar said that Kuruvi is not
a sequel of their super hit Ghilli but
the movie is totally different.
Vijay will play the lead role in a
Prabhu Deva directed untitled film
after completing ATM and Kuruvi.
Ayesha Takia will be his love interest
in the film.
In another forthcoming actionthriller
directed by Gautam
Vasudeva Menon, Vijay will play
three different roles. Gautam
Menon is for the first time joining
Vijay for the mega movie.
According to reports, Vijay will
be donning a cop role after
Pokkiri.
Vijay was born on June 22, 1974
in Chennai as Joseph Vijay
Chandrasekhar. Vijay, credited on
screen as “Ilayathalapathi” which
means ‘Young General,’ also had a
huge fan base. He is the son of SA
Chandrasekhar and Shoba.
Vijay has acted in around 45
films and was born in a family of
film personalities. His father, SA
Chandrasekhar, is a director and
mother Shoba is an accomplished
playback singer. Chandrasekhar has
directed more than 60 films and


produced around 30 films.
Vijay is married to a Sri Lankan
Tamil Hindu Sangeetha and they are
blessed with two children, Jason
Sanjay and Divya Saasha.
Chandrasekhar introduced Vijay
into the film industry. Vijay made a
humble beginning in the industry as
a child artiste by doing minor roles
to follow his dream to become an
actor. He dropped out of the visual
communications course at Loyola
College to pursue his acting career.
Now he is a coveted hero.
Vijay made his debut as a hero at
the age of 18 in Naalaya Theerpu
directed by his father SA
Chandrasekhar. After continuing in
the industry for five years he was
noticed for his role as Raja in Poove
Unakkaga.
Vijay was mostly acting in average
budget films and mainly performed
in romantic, comedy, drama
and action thrillers. He stole the
hearts of people through his spectacular
performances in films like
Poove Unakkaaga, Kadhalukku
Mariyadhai, Kushi, Ghilli, Sivakasi,
Thirupaachi and the recently
released Pokkiri etc.
Vijay movies rarely harm the
producers and his humble and polite
behaviour has made him a favourite
among directors and colleagues.
Vijay’s entertaining performances
has secured him a place in the hearts
of cinegoers.
Vijay has won several awards in
his career. These include State Best
Actor Award for Kadhalukku
Mariyadhai. He won the
Kalaimamani Award, Dinakaran,
Film Today, Madras Corporate Club
best actor award for Ghilli. He is
also the recipient of Dr MGR Award
in 2000.
Like in Tamil Nadu, Vijay is the
most popular after Rajnikanth in
neighbouring state of Kerala. He has
received offers from Malayalam films
but has not accepted them because of
the toughness of the language.
His Pokkiri was not only a super
hit in Tamil Nadu but also in Kerala
and it has completed more than 100
days in Kerala theatres. Vijay films
were receiving a huge response in
Kerala like a Mohanlal or
Mammootty film.
However, Vijay always helps the
poor and needy and he is planning
to start a charitable trust in the name
of his sister Vidya, who died when
she was just two years old. The
main aim of the trust is social service
and he will help poor children to
continue their education. He will
protect the deserved children and
sponsor them for their studies till
their graduation.
Although evergreen Rajnikanth
is the one and only superstar in the
industry, the serpentine queues and
festive mood in front of theatres at
the time of releasing Vijay movies
shows that the ‘star-throne’ is not far
from the hero.
No other actor was compared to
Rajnikanth earlier and many consider
Vijay for Rajni’s position in the
future. Vijay himself is a great fan
of Rajni and readily confesses that
he will always be his fan.