Description:
Vijay was born to S. A. Chandrasekhar, a film producer and director and Shobha Chandrasekhar, a Carnatic singer. He attended the Balalok Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam, Chennai. He began his post-secondary studies at Loyola College in Chennai and entered in the acting field.
During his childhood, Vijay performed in uncredited roles as a child actor in films produced by his father. At the age of 18, Vijay debuted as a lead actor in the 1992 film Naalaya Theerpu, also produced by his father. In his second film, he co-starred with Vijayakanth in the film Sendhoorapandi. His following films Rasigan and Dev
Vijay was born to S. A. Chandrasekhar, a film producer and director and Shobha Chandrasekhar, a Carnatic singer. He attended the Balalok Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam, Chennai. He began his post-secondary studies at Loyola College in Chennai and entered in the acting field.
During his childhood, Vijay performed in uncredited roles as a child actor in films produced by his father. At the age of 18, Vijay debuted as a lead actor in the 1992 film Naalaya Theerpu, also produced by his father. In his second film, he co-starred with Vijayakanth in the film Sendhoorapandi. His following films Rasigan and Deva were all low-budget films. In his fifth film Rajavin Parvaiyile in 1993, he co-starred with actor Ajith Kumar, who played supporting role in that film. Also released that year was his romantic comedy Vishnu and romantic tragedy Chandralekha.
The following year, Vijay continued to pursue romantic comedy films like Coimbatore Mappillai. The Vikraman-directed Poove Unakkaga helped Vijay to become a recognisable actor. Vijay's tenth film was Vasantha Vasal which was followed by the action flicks Maanbumigu Maanavan and Selva. After more romance films in 1997, like Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen and Love Today, Vijay took up the romantic comedy film, Once More, in which he co-starred with legendary Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan. In his next film, the Mani Ratnam-produced Nerukku Ner, directed by Vasanth, he co-starred with Suriya who happened to make his debut that film. He wrapped up that year with his first commercial success, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai, which was directed by Fazil and earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.
In 1998, Vijay worked in Ninaithen Vandhai, Priyamudan, and Nilaave Vaa. This was followed by the films Thulladha Manamum Thullum, Endrendrum Kadhal, Nenjinile and Minsara Kanna.
At the start of the new millennium he did Kannukkul Nilavu with Fazil. He decided not to commit in films that took a year to release, which changed his trend. His next venture Kushi was directed by S. J. Suryah. At the end of the year, he acted in Priyamanavale. His 2001 comedy film Friends was directed by Siddique and featured him in leading role alongside Suriya again. Badri was an action – drama flick which he followed with the romance film, Shahjahan.
In 2002, he starred in Thamizhan alongside Priyanka Chopra who happened to make her film acting debut in that film before acting several Hindi films. Youth and Bagavathi rounded off the year. The following year 2003 began with Vaseegara and Pudhiya Geethai.
In late 2003, Vijay switched gears from a romantic hero to a mass action hero with the action-romance flick, Thirumalai, which featured him with a new look. Udhaya, a film which began filming in 2002 but became delayed, finally released at the start of 2004.
Ghilli, which was released in 2004, is considered as one of Vijay's biggest commercial successes. Directed by S. Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam, it was a remake of the Telugu film Okkadu, and ran for 200 days in theatres in Tamil Nadu. It was followed by Madhurey. It was in this year which Vijay began to portray his current mass-hero, stereotypical acting style, giving him a major turning point in his career. The following year, 2005, had other major films such as the Perarasu-directed Thirupaachi, the romantic flick Sachien, and another masala film, Sivakasi, again by Perarasu. Two of these films were blockbusters while Sachien became an average grosser.
His next film Aadhi, was released in 2006, and became a disaster at the box office. He later accepted to work in Pokkiri that year, the remake of the Mahesh Babu starrer of the same name. Directed by Prabhu Deva, it released in 2007 and met almost the same success Ghilli did, in which Vijay played the character of an undercover cop disguised as a local gangster.
Late 2007, Vijay starred in the extrasensory perception thriller film Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, and for the first time, he appeared in dual roles, as both the antagonist and protagonist. In 2008, he starred in the action film Kuruvi, again under Dharani's direction.
The year 2009 started off with the action masala film Villu, which was directed by Prabhu Deva who was keen on working with him again after Pokkiri. The film featured Vijay in dual roles for the second time in his career. Vijay's next film, Vettaikaaran was directed by Babu Sivan, produced by AVM Productions and distributed by Sun Pictures. In 2010, Vijay's 50th film Sura released, which was also distributed by Sun Pictures.
Most of his films during this period did not do well at the box office, and Vijay's status as a bankable star was questioned. It was also during this period that Vijay fell out with the ruling DMK and the latter, virtually controlling the film industry at the time, tried to even end his career.
He associated with director Siddique again for Kaavalan, the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film Bodyguard. It received a positive response from both viewers and critics and was declared a successful venture at the box office, in spite of the ruling DMK trying to stall its release in many theatres. The victory of the AIADMK in the 2011 assembly elections coincided with Vijay's resurgence. During Diwali 2011, his next film, Velayudham directed by M. Raja and produced by Venu Ravichandran released and declared as a blockbuster. Velayudham became one of the top grossing films of 2011. His latest release Nanban, directed by S. Shankar, became a huge blockbuster and Vijay's performance was well praised. Acclaimed actor Kamal Hassan appreciated Vijay's performance in the movie.
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