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Ilayathalapathy to Thalapathy - Vijay's meteoric rise to superstardom

PUBLISHED DATE : 22/Jun/2017

Ilayathalapathy to Thalapathy - Vijay's meteoric rise to superstardom

Ilayathalapathy to Thalapathy - Vijay's meteoric rise to superstardom
Pic : Listed are some of the popular and acclaimed hits of Vijay
Joseph Vijay Chandrashekar (mononymously known as Vijay) is one of the few mainstream actors of Tamil cinema, who has lived upto the larger-than-life live idea of movie-goers and fans. Even though he made his entry into films as a traditional romantic hero, the actor made a conscious effort to get out of the rut and establish himself in every role possible. Vijay celebrates his birthday on June 22 and we are taking a look at his journey and what makes his onscreen and offscreen persona so awesome.

The 90s Reign
The actor comes from an established film background (father Chandrashekar is a director, mother Shobana is a playback singer, extended family part of the filmdom) and hence it was no wonder when he too followed their footsteps. Though he started using the title Ilayathalapathy right from his 3rd film Rasigan (1994), his career breakthrough came through the blockbuster hit Poove Unakkaga (1996) only to be followed by a plethora of back to back hits like Thulladha Manamum Thullum, Khushi, Priyamaanavale, Shahjahan, Youth and the like. 

Commercial Hits
By early 2000s, Vijay had started taking detour from the romantic hero image by choosing movies like Friends, Tamizhan, etc. His first path-breaking commercial hit was Ghilli (2004) after which the actor never seemed to stop. He had literally transformed from a boy-next-door hero to a bankable mass actor. The success of Thirupachi, Sivakasi, Pokkiri, etc stand proof to this. 

Choice of Films
Like every successful star, Vijay went through his share of downs too. Vijay was ready for a make-over in his career at this point and redemption came in the form of Nanban (2012) which was a very unusual from a Vijay film. He then followed it by movies with underlying messages like Thuppakki (2012),  Kaththi (2014) and Theri (2016). 

Personality Growth
Vijay who re-invented his choice of films over time, also took conscious efforts to bring about a change in his personal image. The usually shy actor, soon became the only big star in the industry to register his clear-cut thoughts on debatable issues. He was particularly lauded for his forth-coming opinions on demonetisation, jallikaatu episode and the neduvasal farmers issue. 

Ilayathalapathy turns Thalapathy
Today Vijay celebrates his 43rd birthday and his upcoming film Mersal seems to deal with another important topic, Jallikattu. The first look of the film revealed the actor has opted for a title change from Ilayathalapathy to Thalapathy and we believe the star couldn't have chosen a better time to do this. 

Happy Birthday Thalapathy Vijay!

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