Hyderabad: Kollywood actor and DMDK founder-leader Vijayakanth, who sowed the seeds of hope among his fans, admirers and the people on the possibility of a real alternative to the Dravidian majors, the DMK and AIADMK died here on Thursday following illness. He was 71.
Hailed as 'Karuppu MGR' (black MGR) by his fans for his generosity, Vijayakanth has been ill and kept a low-profile for the past 4-5 years and his wife Premalatha formally took over the reins of the DMDK on December 14.
“It is a great loss to Tamil film industry and political space too since he was an efficient actor and an honest leader,’ says veteran Tamil producer Kaayar, who claims that he would have become Chief Minister if had been active in politics. “He had all the makings of becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu if he had been healthy and continued in politics,” he points out.
Talking about Viyayakanth’s connection with Tollywood, famed Telugu writer Gopimohan says, “Initially, in 1980’s, Telugu audience thought that Vijayakanth was a relative of superstar Rajinikanth but later realized that they had no connection and were two different actors." He claims that Vijayakanth dubbed movies like ‘Police Adhikari’, ‘Captain Prabhakar’, ‘Sindhurapoovu’, ‘Noororoju’ and ‘Chatriyudu’ and others minted gold at the Telugu box office and gained him a following among Telugu viewers in 80's and 90s. “His action films helped me to attract crowds in the B & C centre in united AP since most of his films were mass-centric entertainers and village-based movies,” he points out.
However, Vijayakanth changed tracks and began to work with film institute alumni and Tamil filmmakers like Aravindaraj, Aabavaran and R K Selvaamni to reach urban viewers in the 1990s. “He found some spark in film institute students and began to work with them. Inspired by Hollywood movies, these students delivered slick action flicks with realistic themes and it paid off,” he adds.
Later, Vijayakanth’s movies were also remade by Telugu heroes like Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh and Dr Rajasekar and tasted success. “A film like ‘Tagore’ with Chiranjeevi was a sensational hit as it exposed the weaklings in corporate hospitals and also talked about a special force to eradicate corruption in society. Surely, few of his films blended action with social message too,” he adds.
Summing up Vijayakanth's fascination for anger-driven roles, producer Kaayaar says, ‘Vijayakanth was so fascinated with action sequences that he didn’t mind turning into a stuntman. But fate had other plans for him and he became an action hero with films like ‘Sattam Oru Irruttu Aarai’, and ‘Neethiyin Marupakkam’ and he didn’t look after ever since," he concludes.
