Interesting facts about Ilayathalapathy Vijay

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. Here is a look at a few interesting facts about the star to understand the phenomenon that is Vijay.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.