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Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952),[1][2] better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and film 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 coming into politics Vijayakanth was a film actor, producer and director. He was a political film actor in Tamil cinema. Vijayakanth is also the current DMDK chairman of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. He is the founder and leader of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) Political party and served as a Member of Legislative Assembly twice representing the constituency of Virudhacalam & Rishivandiyam respectively.
Vijayakanth is one of very few Tamil politicians and actors in political drama to have acted only in Tamil movies throughout his career, though his movies have been dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. He is also known for portraying a village do-gooder and double roles acting in his films. He has acted in more than 20 films as a police officer. By far the most times by any actor of his time in Tamil cinema to have donned the khaki in movies.[3] His first film was Inikkum Ilamai (1979) where he played an antagonist. His subsequent films Agal Vilakku (1979), Neerottam (1980) and Saamanthippoo (1980) are followed box-office flops.[4] He then had success with Doorathu Idi Muzhakkam (1980) and Sattam Oru Iruttarai (1981), directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar; most of his movies are with him. He was nicknamed "Captain" after the movie Captain Prabhakaran (1991), his 100th film.
Vijayakanth acted in several films in the 1990s including Pulan Visaranai (1990), loosely based on the life of notorious serial killer Auto Shankar, had R. Sarathkumar portraying the antagonist. Directed by R. K. Selvamani, this film was considered to be one of the best crime thrillers of its time. At the end of the year, he acted in Sathriyan (1990), produced by Mani Ratnam, about an honest cop and a corrupt politician. This can be easily termed as Vijayakanth's best attempt at the cop role amongst the innumerable times he donned the khakhi. This is undoubtedly Vijaykanth's best film and also stands in the list of good cop films made in Tamil cinema. After the success of Pulan Visaranai (1990), Rowther decided to make another project with Vijayakanth and director R. K. Selvamani, titled Captain Prabhakaran (1991). It was Vijayakanth's 100th film, after which he earned the nickname "captain". He is the only actor from his period to have tasted a jubilee box-office hit on his 100th film and joined the list of actors, namely M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganeshan and Jayalalithaa. The film was a commercial success upon its release,[7] followed by Maanagara Kaaval (1991) and Moondrezhuthil En Moochirukkum (1991). Vijayakanth worked in movies such as Chinna Gounder (1992). This film was radically different from Vijayakanth's earlier portrayals, as he was donning the role of a soft-spoken village chieftain. The film is remembered for Vijayakanth's underplay. This film was ranked third in Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film, followed by Bharathan (1992), Thai Mozhi (1992), where Vijayakanth made a special appearance and Kaviya Thalaivan (1992), a drama film which was his last of the year. He co-starred with the son of the director S. A. Chandrasekhar, Vijay in Sendhoorapandi (1993), where Vijayakanth plays the role of elder brother and was Vijay’s first ever hit film. Vijayakanth was the main lead for which he did not take any remuneration.[3] He starred in Sethupathi IPS (1994), directed by P. Vasu, followed by Honest Raj (1994), Pathavi Pramanam (1994), En Aasai Machan (1994), co-starring with actor Murali as brother in this film, and Periya Marudhu (1994) which was the last film of the year for Vijayakanth. He acted in Karuppu Nila (1995), Thirumoorthy (1995) and Gandhi Pirantha Mann (1995), that failed at the box office. He acted in an action film Thayagam (1996), which won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize. This was followed by Tamizh Selvan (1996), a political film and Alexander (1996), an action film. He starred in Dharma Chakkaram (1997), an action drama film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. He acted in his 125th film Ulavuthurai (1998), followed by Dharma (1998) and Veeram Vilanja Mannu (1998). He acted in Kallazhagar (1999), and co-starred with Suriya in Periyanna (1999). He starred in Kannupada Poguthaiya (1999), produced by R. B. Choudary. |