Vijayakanth

Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2016. Before entering politics Vijayakanth was a successful actor, producer and director. Vijayakanth is also the current DMDK chairman of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. He is the founder and president, general secretary of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) Political party and served as a Member of Legislative Assembly twice representing the constituency of Virudhachalam and Rishivandiyam respectively.

Personal life

Vijayakanth was born as Vijayaraj Alagarswami in Madurai on 25 August 1952. his parents are K. N. Alagarswami and Aandal Azhagarswami. He married Premalatha on 31 January 1990 and has two sons named Vijaya Prabhakaran and Shanmuga Pandian, an actor.

Acting career

Vijayakanth is one of very few Tamil actors to have acted only in Tamil films throughout his career. His films have mostly been dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. Vijayakanth, had the title "Puratchi Kalaignar" (revolutionary artist) in the film industry. He is also known for portraying a patriotic, village do-gooder and dual role acting in his films. Many refused to play with him and great filmmakers did not show up to make films. He has acted in more than 20 films as a police officer. He is best known for low-budget films that showcased gravity-defying stunts in which he would single-handedly dispatch his enemies. Most of his films revolved around corruption, honesty and keeping up promises. He worked 3 shifts per day and that was his dedication towards his craft. Vijayakanth took delayed remunerations and sometimes didn't take them at all to benefit the struggling producers. More importantly, he didn't try to publicize these and had let the world see it for themselves and take inspiration. Upon entering the film industry to pursue an acting career, he changed to "Vijayakanth", dropping the "Raj" out of his name and suffixing it with "Kanth," by his first film M. A. Kaja's ''Inikkum Ilamai'' (1979). He then had success with ''Sattam Oru Iruttarai'' (1981), directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar; with whom he did movies mostly. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was an action icon with a consistent box-office appeal. He got the sobriquet "Captain" after the 100th film, ''Captain Prabhakaran'' (1991).

1979 to 1989: Early career

Vijayakanth was cast in ''Inikkum Ilamai'' (1979), his first film where he played an antagonist, which was directed by M. A. Kaja. His subsequent films ''Agal Vilakku'' (1979), ''Neerottam'' (1980) and ''Saamanthippoo'' (1980) were box-office flops. His film ''Doorathu Idi Muzhakkam'' (1980), was screened at the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India. However the film that strongly launched him as a commercial hero was ''Sattam Oru Iruttarai'' (1981), directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. It was remade in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. In his formative years, Vijayakanth acted in films carrying revolutionary and radical thoughts such as '' Sivappu Malli'' (1981) and '' Jadhikkoru Needhi'' (1981). In these films, he brilliantly portrayed the angry young revolutionist characters. He then played a villain role in ''Om Shakti'' (1982) but after which he has never portrayed antagonist characters in his career.

Slowly he started acting in commercial films on action, romance and sentiment themes and gradually rose to the top and with many super hits films like ''Nooravathu Naal'' (1984) and ''Vaidhegi Kaathirunthaal'' (1984). This year, he had 18 releases. He became the Tamil cinema actor to release the most films in a year in the lead role. He acted in '' Annai Bhoomi 3D'' (1985), the first 3D film made in the Tamil film industry where he acted alongside Radha Ravi and Kannada actor Tiger Prabhakar. He co-starred with Kannada superstar actor Vishnuvardhan in ''Eetti'' (1985). The romantic comedy film ''Naane Raja Naane Mandhiri'' (1985), in which he is a self-centered egoistic village Zamindar, who makes fun of people was a commercial success. He acted in ''Amman Kovil Kizhakale'' (1986), which earnt him a Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. He also acted in ''Manakanakku'' (1986), the only film where Kamal Haasan and Vijayakanth worked together, followed by ''Oomai Vizhigal'' (1986) which became a cult classic. It portrayed him in an unusual role of an aged cop. He became an indisputable competitor of stalwarts Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. In 1987, he co-starred with Sivaji Ganesan in '' Veerapandiyan'', followed by successful movies as ''Cooliekkaran'', ''Veeran Veluthambi'', ''Ninaive Oru Sangeetham'', ''Sattam Oru Vilayaattu'' and ''Uzhavan Magan''. In 1988, he worked in films such as '' Therkathi Kallan'', '' Nallavan'' and ''Poonthotta Kaavalkaaran''. In ''Senthoora Poove'', Vijayakanth won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. In 1989, he also starred in two other super hit films such as ''Paattukku Oru Thalaivan

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