Vijayakanth | |
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விஜயகாந்த் | |
Vijayakanth
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Founder, Leader, President and Chairperson of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam | |
Assumed office 14 September 2005 |
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Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |
In office 13 May 2011 – 19 May 2016 |
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Preceded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
Succeeded by | M. K. Stalin |
Constituency | Rishivandiyam |
Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |
In office 8 May 2006 – 8 May 2011 |
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Constituency | Vridhachalam |
Personal details | |
Born |
Vijayraj Azhagarswami Naidu 25 August 1952 Madurai, Madras State, (now Tamil Nadu), India |
Nationality | Indian |
Political party | Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam |
Spouse(s) | Premalatha (m.1990–present) |
Children | Vijay Prabhakar Shanmuga Pandian |
Residence | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
Occupation | Actor, Producer, Director, Politician |
Vijayakanth (born Vijayraj Azhagarswami Naidu, 25 August 1952) is a Tamil actor and politician. He was the Leader of the Opposition of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2016. Prior to becoming a politician, he was a film actor in Tamil cinema from 1979 to 2010. He is the founder of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and served as a Member of Legislative Assembly representing the constituency of Rishivandiyam.
Vijayakanth is one of the very few Tamil speaking actors to have acted only in Tamil movies throughout his career, though his movies have been dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. Many of his recent movies contain nationalist plots about a terrorist, corrupt Indian politician or a mafia don troubling the Indian people and Vijayakanth getting back at the troublemakers single-handedly. He is also famous for acting village oriented movies, many of them had huge success across Tamil Nadu. He was once a star and capable actor known for his powerful dialogue delivery in Tamil cinema. His first film was Inikkum Ilamai (1979) in role of villain. His subsequent films Agal Vilakku (1979), Neerottam (1980), Saamanthippoo (1980) were not commercially successful. He then had a success with Doorathu Idi Muzhakkam (1980) and Sattam Oru Iruttarai (1981) directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar, most of his movies are with him. He is nicknamed "Captain" after the movie Captain Prabhakaran (1991) which was his 100th film and was a big hit. The actor went on to complete more than 150 films in his film career.
Vijayakanth was booked in Inikkum Ilamai (1979), his first film where he acted in villain role which was directed by M. A. Kaja. After several films unsuccessful, he then had a success with Doorathu Idi Muzhakkam (1980), the film was screened at the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India and Sattam Oru Iruttarai (1981) directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. His career took off and was remade in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language. After this film, Vijayakanth became one of the leading actors of Tamil cinema. He acted in various hits such as like Vaidhegi Kaathirunthaal (1984). This year, Vijayakanth's films released 18 movies, this is a record and the only Tamil actor who has released all his films in one year in the lead role. He acted in Annai Bhoomi 3D (1985), the first film 3D made in Tamil film industry. He co-starred with Kannada superstar Vishnuvardhan in Eetti (1985) and Tamil actor Sathyaraj in role of villain. The romantic comedy movie Naane Raja Naane Mandhiri (1985), who he is a self-centred egoistic village Jamindar who makes fun of people was a commercial success. He acted in Amman Kovil Kizhakale (1986), which earned a Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil and was a commercial success. He also acted in Manakanakku (1986) "the only film where Kamal Haasan and Vijayakanth worked together till date", followed by drama movie Oomai Vizhigal (1986) which is a blockbuster. It was one of the trendsetters of the 1980s Tamil cinema portraying the role of a cop for a change an aged cop, though he had a small screen time in this multi-starrer he gave a powerful performance. He co-starred with the Legend Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan in Veerapandiyan (1987), this was followed by Cooliekkaran (1987), Veeran Veluthambi (1987) and Ninaive Oru Sangeetham (1987) which were successful hit movies. He worked in the movies like Therkathi Kallan (1988), Poonthotta Kaavalkaaran (1988) which earned him a Cinema Express Award for Best Actor – Tamil and Senthoora Poove (1988) which won him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor and was declared a blockbuster. He also starred two of the super hits of the year Paattukku Oru Thalaivan (1989) and Ponmana Selvan (1989) followed by a crime movie Rajanadai (1989) and a devotional film Meenakshi Thiruvilayadal (1989) at the end of the year.