Affectionately Called Ilayathalapathy(By fans)
Vassol Chakravarthy(By Film Fraternities)
Profession - Actor and Singer
Date of Birth 22nd June 1974
Mother Tongue - Tamil
Height - 5’-10”
Father - S.A.Chandasekharan(Writer, Producer, Director)
Mother - Shobha Chandra Sekhar(Singer, Writer And Director)
Uncle - S.N Surendar {Play Back Singer And Dubbing Voice for Actor Mohan Over 85 Film}
Education - Bachelor's Degree of Visual Communications at Loyola
Spouse - Sangeetha
Vijay Wedded Sangeetha on - August 25 1999
Son - Jason Sanjay
Daughter - Divya Saasha
Dear Friends - Sajai, Srinath, Sanjeev, Manoj and Ram Kumar
His Best friend in film industry - Vikram, Surya
Debut as child artiste - “Vetri”
As action hero - Nalaya Therpu Directed by S.A.Chandra Shekar
As an Actor - Strengths - Stunts, Dance and Singing, Punch Dialogues.
Aa a person - Intorvert, Famous for on - Line Answers
Favourties
>> Tourist spots - London and Los Angels
>> Food - Non-Vegetrian(Chicken Briyani and Tandoori Items)
>> Clothes - Jeans and T-Shirt
>> Colour - Blue and Black
Crazy About - Cars(Owns a Black BMW)
The Background
Vijay Was Born On The 22nd Of June 1974 To The Celebrity Couple S.A.Chandrasekar And Shobha. He Was Christened As Joseph Vijay. Vijay Did His Schooling In Balalok Matriculation In Virugambakkam. He Dropped Out Of Loyola College While Doing Visual Communication, For The Sake Of Entering Films
Entry into Films
Vijay’s First Film Was Vetri Where He Appeared As A Child Artist. As A Hero He Entered The Industry Through The Film “Naalya Theerpu” Directed By His Father Sac. All His Early Films Were Directed By His Father and Made Him Popular In B and C Centers. Vikraman’s Poove Unakaagha Was The Major Break In His Career.
The Challenges
It Is Often Claimed By The Anti-Vijay Gang That He Would Not Have Any Place In This Industry If Not His Father Had Launched Him. But Almost All Top Heroes Of Today Had A Chance To Work With Great Directors and banners In Their Initial Stages. It All Depends On How They Used The Chance. Ofcourse Vijay Had An Easy Launch Pad Unlike Others, But The Challenges He Had To Face Were Not Easier.
While Others Had To Improve Upon Only Acting Skills, Vijay Needed A Complete Makeover Right From Looks To Everything About Him. It Took Years For Him To Be Accepted By People As A Hero. There Were All Sorts Of Nasty Comments Thrown Upon His Unheroic Looks. But Today… he has established himself as worthy as the title “Azhagiya Thamizh Magan” both by looks and character, all by his years of hardwork.
Changes in Appearance
Vijay Till Date Has Not Undergone Any Great changes For His Movies like Changing Getups and Straining Himself too much. On The Other Hand He Has Tried Different Styles – Wearing Specs (As in Ninaithen Vandhai), Short Hair Cut (As In Vaseegara), Hair Coloring (Aadhi) Etc. He Trimmed His Moustache In Thirumalai And Has Been Maintaining This Style Till Date. These Kind changes Also sometimes Helped Him in Pairing with Heroines Who Looked Elder to Him.
The Singer Role
Vijay Has Sung Many Songs In His Own Voice For His Films. Most Of Those Songs Have Been Big Hits Among His Fans. Few Instances Are Vaadi Vaadi(Sachien), Nilave Nilave(Nilaave Vaa), Oh Baby(Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai), Ennoda Laila(Badri), Mouriya(Priyamudan) Etc. He Rendered A Duet With His Co-Star Priyanka Chopra For The Movie Tamizhan. Apart From This, He Rendered Songs for Surya in the Movie Periyanna directed by SAC.
The Change of Phases
After Friends, A Super Hit Film, Vijay Was On A Lean Phase And All His Films That Followed Were Either Flops Or Average Runs. The Diwali Of 2003 Was A Real Festival For Vijay Fans As Vijay Was Back With A Bang With Thirumalai. With A New Getup And An Action Hero Image, Soon Vijay Raised His Status Towards Superstardom And The Series Of Hits That Followed Assured That. Thirumalai Is Indeed A Landmark Movie In Vijay’s Career.
Vijay Did A Chain Of Romantic Movies After Which He Shifted To The Action Genre With Thirumalai And Ghilli. And The Films That Followed Established As An Action Hero. But In The Middle He Did A Soft Movie “Sachien” Sans Punch Dialogues, Blood And Gore. Though The Movie Didn’t Get The Kind Of Response His Other Action Films Had, It Is A Movie That Die Hard Vijay Fans Will Cherish For A Long Time.
Vijay Has Done A Lot of Remake Films in His Career Most of Which Are From Telugu. Many Were Successful But some like Aadhi Did Not Do Well. Inspite of This, Vijay went ahead with the Remake of Telugu Movie Pokiri and reaped huge success.
The Man of Miracles
Miracles Do Happen Everywhere. For Vijay It Happened With Madurey. After Ghilli No One Expected Such A Crappy Thing From Vijay. And No One Expected That It Will Go On To Complete 100 Days. Vijay’s Ghilli Hangover And Vidhyasagar’s Excellent Music With Nicely Picturised Songs Created The Miracle.
Vijay’s another surprise Big Hit Was Sivakasi. This Diwali Release Of 2005 Was A Real Cracker Earning Good Profits For Producer A.M.Rathnam And Distributors. Though Rain Dampened The Collections To Some Extent, The Film Went On To Complete 100 Days. It Was A Movie With All Superstar Ingredients But Sans Any Great Logic Or Strong Story Line (As If Each And Every Tamil Film Has These!!!) Perarasu Gave His Second Hit encashing Upon Vijay’s Popularity.
Awards and Recognitions
Vijay Has Not Won Many Awards In His Career And He Has No Big Regrets About It. He Has Always Said People’s Love And Recognition Is More Than Any Award For Him. But Of course, He Was Awarded Tamilnadu Government’s State Award for Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai and Kalaimamani Award. And Many Other Small Awards Like Dinakaran Award For Ghilli. He was also felicitated at Hyderabad Thamizh Sangham Where He Was Given the Title ‘Prince of Tamil Cinema’. Vijay TV gave him the “Next Superstar” award and “Best entertainer of the year” award as part of their Vijay awards. For Pokkiri, he was given an award by Mathrubhoomi, a Malayalam magazine, first time for a Tamil actor.
Unworthy Rivalries
It Is Often Quoted By Media and Fans That Ajith Is the Professional Rival for Vijay. There Was A Time When They Were Attacking Each Other Through Dialogues And Songs And More Than Them, Their Fans Fought Through Posters And Cutouts. Vijay Tried to Put an End to This Obvious Rivalry by Congratulating with Ajith In The pooja Of His Film Thirupathi in a Surprise Visit. As Expected, This Was Again Translated By Ajith Fans On A Bad Note. Nowadays, Many sensible Vijay Fans Have Stopped Fighting Because They Understood That Vijay Is at a Much Higher Level to Be Compared with Ajith. Still Vijay And His Fans Are Being Maligned By Ajith Fans. God Knows The End Of This Never Ending Dispute!!!!
The Sweet Family
Vijay Married Sangeetha, His Fan and Daughter of a London Based SriLankan Businessman on 25th August 1999. The Marriage Was Held With A Grand Wedding In Rani Meyammai Hall After Which The Couple Met The Fans In Nehru Indoor Stadium. The Couple Are Blessed With Two Kids, A Son Jason Sanjay And A Daughter Divya Saasha. Sangeetha Had Been the Best Friend for Vijay All These Years. She Is The One Behind Vijay’s Style Statement And Dressing Sense In Movies Like Sachien Widely Appreciated By His Fans. They Are Indeed An Ideal Couple In Tamil Film Industry.
The Fans Network
Vijay Is One Of The Few Actors Having A Big Fan Following Even Outside Tamilnadu. In Addition To Tens Of Thousands Of Fan Clubs In Tamilnadu, Vijay Has Many Fan Clubs In Karnataka Too Where He Is The Most Popular Tamil Actor Next Only To Superstar Rajinikanth. His Films Do Good Business In Kerala Too Where His Films Get A Response Equal To Those Of Superstars Like Mammooty And Mohanlal. Apart From These He Has Fans In Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Srilanka, UK And US.
Endorsements
Vijay Was The First Tamil Actor To Endorse Coca-Cola In Tamilnadu. He Was Signed Up By Coke For Few Years In Which He Featured In Coke Ads And Endorsed The Brand Through His Films Too. Those Ads, Choreographed By Raju Sundaram Had A Good Reach And Were Most Popular At Those Times. Apart From These He Also Promoted Sunfeast Brand Of Biscuits Through His Recent Movies. Recently he was signed as the brand ambassador of Cococola for a second time owing to his popularity all over Tamilnadu. He is also the star ambassador of IPL team Chennai Super Kings.
Ever Youth
Vijay Has Played A College Student In Many Movies In His Career. But Many Of His Fans Liked Him In Sachien Where In Every Inch He Represented Himself As A College Guy Quite An Unusual Thing At 31 Years Of Age. He Got A Lot Of Appreciations From Reviews Too. The Movie’s Stills And Wallpapers Were A Huge Hit Among His Fans And It Was A Delightful Experience Watching Him Onscreen. Special Credits For Jeeva’s Camerawork Too.
Best pairs onscreen
If Sangeetha Is The Real Life Best Pair On Screen, It Was Trisha Who Made His Best Pair Onscreen. The Pair Was Quite Good And Rocking In All Their 3 Movies Together- Ghilli, Thiruppachi And Aadhi. Though Their Latest Film Aadhi Was Not A Hit, Still Fans Find The Pair Good And Are Hoping To See Them Together In Future Movies Too. If Vijay-Simran Pair Looked A Matured One, This Pair Looked More Youthful, Colorful And It Was A Treat To Watch Them Onscreen. Not Only They Have Good Onscreen Chemistry, Both Are Good Friends Too, As Quoted By Trisha.
Vijay Paired With Asin In Sivakaasi For The First Time And The Film Was A Big Hit. Fans Liked The Pair Especially The Comedy Sequences Between The Two. After Being Assured the Heroine Role in Vijay’s Next Film after Aadhi She was Back with Vijay Again after about 7 Months, Since Sivakaasi Hit the Screens. Vijay and Asin were again Seen Together in Pokiri Directed by Prabhudeva and the film was a blockbuster.
Musical hits
Most Of Vijay’s Films Have Good Music And Albums Will Be A Hit, Atleast After The Release Of The Film (Most Songs Will Appeal To Songs After Viewing It Onscreen Rather Than By Listening). The Surprise Factor Is That, He Never Had The Privilege Of Dancing To Tunes Of Big Music Directors Often. Rahman And Yuvan, Big Shots Today Have Done Only One/Two Films With Vijay And Music Was Not A Big Hit In Both Films. Harris Has Never Done A Vijay Film Till Now. Vijay’s Most Successful Music Directors In His Career Till Date Are Vidhyasagar And Deva
The ‘Ghilli’ Milestone
Vijay’s First Break In His Career Came With Poove Unakaagha Which Made Him A Known Face Among All Kinds Of Audience. The Second Major Milestone Was Ghilli. A Remake Of Telugu Movie ‘Okkadu’ Made By Dharani This Film Grossed Amassive Collections In Box Office And Had Producer A.M.Rathnam Grinning From Ear To Ear, Especially When He Was Down After A Couple Of Losses. The Film Ran For 260 Days And Is The Biggest Hit Till Date In Vijay’s Carrer – His First Step Towards Superstardom. And For The First Time The Great Pair Of Vijay And Trisha Came Together Onscreen For This Movie. Any Vijay Fan Will Have Ghilli In His/Her List Of Favorite Vijay Movies And Would Have Surely Watched The Film More Than Once.
The Ruler of Box-office
Vijay Who Has Always Been Playing Safe When Selecting Movies Has a Very Strong Reason for Doing So. ‘I Will Have To Think About The Producer, Distributor, Exhibitor, And All The Crew Members Of The Movie I Am Involved In. I Have To Consider About All The People Involved When Experimenting’. The Actor’s Movies Are Easily Sold For 4 To 4.5 Crores In Chennai-Chengalpet Area. This Is Next Only To Superstar’s Movies.
Vijay Has Always Been The Blue-Eyed Boy For Producers And Distributors. He Was Given Exemption from Ceiling by Distributors On Par With Rajini and Kamal. Most Of His Films Have Given Good Returns For The Distributors And Huge Profits For Producers. Though few films in recent past Broke This Track Record, He Is Expected To Be Back With A Bang.
Once An Unnamed Producer Approached Vijay And Offered 8 Crores For A Project With Him. Vijay Was Stunned And Kindly Refused The Offer Made To Him. He Felt, Taking Up The Movie For Eight Crores Is Again Putting A Lot Of Risk And Pressure On The Various People Involved In the Film Making.
Knack for Comedy
Vijay Is One Of The Few Heroes Who Has A Very Good Timing For Comedy. His Combination With Comedy Actors Like Dhaamu, Vivek And Vadivelu Has Rocked In Many Movies And Fans Really Love His Comedy Acts. Vaseegara Is One Such Movie Where Vijay Did Almost Full Length Comedy. The Song “Nenjam Orumarai” From The Movie Is A Popular Number Where Vijay And Sneha Act Like Mgr And Saroja Devi In Old Songs. The Film Was A Remake Of The Telugu Movie ‘Nuvvu Naaku Nachaav’ But Unfortunately Didn’t Taste The Success That Telugu Original Did.
The Kids’ Hero
Vijay Is An Actor Who Is Very Popular Among Kids And Many School Children Love Him. He Makes Sure There Are Certain Elements In His Movie Specially Dedicated To His Little Fans. It Was Evident In Movies Like Sachien And Aadhi. There Was A Song Sequence In Aadhi Shot With Vijay And Trisha And Lots Of Kids. When You Watch A Vijay Movie In Theatre, You Can Always Spot A Lots Of Small Kid Fans.
Biggest Regret
Vijay’s Biggest Sorrow In His Life Is The Loss Of His Sister. He Was Very Fond Of His Sister Vidhya Who Unfortunately Passed Away At A Very Young Age. This Made Vijay An Introvert And Is The Main Reason For His Reserved Nature. Of Course, He Has Changed A Lot These Days And Has Come Out In Public Functions Speaking Out His Mind. Thanks To His Kids And Wife Sangeetha For Making Him Get Out Of His Grief.
An Unforgettable Moment
One Memorable Moment In Vijay’s Life Is The Day When Ghilli 200 Days Function Was Held. Rajinikanth Who Was The Main Guest Of The Function Was An Inspiration For Vijay To Act In Movies And He Follows His Style In Many Movies. Rajini Presented The Ghilli Trophy To Vijay And Speaking On The Occasion He Said “I Remember The Days Of Myself And Kamal, When I See Vijay And Vikram Now”. The Statement That the Media Interpreted As ‘Superstar Conferring the Title of Next Superstar On Vijay’.
However, Vijay, Who Himself Is A Big Fan Of Rajinikanth, Declares Even Today, That Rajini Is The Only Superstar. He Says That He Is Happy To Be Ilayathalapathy… Ofcourse, It Means Young Thalapathy And Thalapathy Is None Other Than Rajinikanth.
Friends
Vijay Has A Few Close Friends Right From College Days Amongst Whom Is Sanjeev, Who Acted With Him In Movies Like Nilaave Vaa, Badri And Pudhiya Geethai. In Tamil Film Industry, Vijay’s Close Friend Is Actor Vikram And Both Were Self-Declared Fans Of Each Other. They Also Have A Plan Of Acting Together In A Movie In Future. In An Industry Of Rivalries And Competition, It Is A Rarity To Find Friendships Like This…..
Favorite Movies
This Is From One Of Vijay’s Interviews To A Magazine. Ten Movies Which Vijay Likes The Most and Likes to Watch Often:
* Road to Perdition
* Life Is Beautiful
* Cellular
* Nayagan
* Salaam Namasthe
* Annamalai
* Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai
* Enga Veetu Pillai
* Pithaamagan
* Passion of Christ
* Life Is Beautiful
* Cellular
* Nayagan
* Salaam Namasthe
* Annamalai
* Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai
* Enga Veetu Pillai
* Pithaamagan
* Passion of Christ
