Vijayakanth: The people’s actor and politician

Chennai: If empathy characterised the personal life of Vijayakanth, the Tamil megastar who passed away here on Thursday, bravado was central to his film and political career. The actor displayed enormous courage by challenging the colossus of Tamil Nadu’s political landscape, M Karunanidhi, and J Jayalalithaa, projecting himself as an alternative to the Dravidian majors.

“A man with a golden heart” - That’s how people who worked with the actor, 71, have always described Vijayakanth, known for his inimitable nature of bonding with the masses and speaking straight from his heart. The most glowing tribute came from his fans, supporters, and people who worked with him – “anyone who met Vijayakanth at his office or his residence never returned hungry.”

Vijayakanth was the founder of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) which took the DMK and AIADMK head-on, briefly altering the bipolar politics that Tamil Nadu is known for, but he veered off the way with his party that once boasted of a 10.5 per cent vote bank in 2009 being reduced to a mere 0.45 per cent in 2021.

He is survived by his wife Premalatha, who is now the general secretary of the DMDK, and two sons -- Vijaya Prabhakaran and Shanmuga Pandian.

A philanthropist who believed in equality, the 71-year-old insisted that the film crew should get the same food as him, waived off dues from producers if films didn’t do well at the box office, and surrendered all management quota seats at his private engineering college to the government so that students don’t pay extra fees.

His rustic-charm which stood out in whatever roles he played -- be it as a doting son, brother, husband, or friend or an upright police officer who stood up to corrupt politician or a village head who delivers justice – endeared him to people and carve a niche for himself in the film world at a time it was dominated by the likes of Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Fondly known as ‘Captain’, a sobriquet he earned for playing the role of a daring forest officer in his 1991 movie Captain Prabhakaran, Vijayakanth commanded a dedicated fan following among the working class for his ‘angry young man’ roles fighting for their emancipation and among woman, who him as one in their families.

Born as Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami in Madurai in 1952, Vijayakanth refused to heed to his father’s advice to run the family’s rice mill and came to Chennai to try his luck in the tinsel town.

Sattam Oru Iruttarai directed by S A Chandrashekar, father of popular Tamil actor Vijay, gave the much needed break to Vijayakanth in films after he made his debut in Inikkum Ilamai in 1979 by M A Kaja.

From then, there was no looking back for Vijayakanth as he ruled the film industry with several blockbusters till early 2000s like Chinna Gounder, Amman Koil Kizhakale, Vaidehi Kathirunthal, Ramana, Managara Kaaval, and Vaanathaippola.

Vijayakanth, who never acted in non-Tamil movies, used the silver screen to the hilt to demonstrate his unflinching patriotism and his love for the men in khaki – he donned the role of a police officer in at least 20 films in his 25-year-old film career.

Besides his acting skills, Vijayakanth will forever be remembered by his peers in the tinsel town for reclaiming the debt-ridden South Indian Film Artistes’ Association during his tenure as its President – he organised shows in countries where Tamils lived to raise funds for the association that helps industry people living in penury.

In more ways than one, Vijayakant’s role model was the legendary M G Ramachandran as he emulated his generosity and magnanimity inside and outside film sets, but could not come anywhere close to replicating his success in politics.

His daring act in real life – he hunted down numerous hard-core terrorists in movies – is his political plunge in 2005 at a time Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa controlled the political space and briefly altered the bipolar politics in the state.

Vijayakanth’s peer Kamal Haasan mustered the courage only after the two icons faded into history, while Rajinikanth reviewed the ‘will he, won’t he’ guessing game post-Jayalalithaa era, only to end it once for all in three years.

Vijayakanth aimed for the chief minister’s chair but he could at least challenge the occupant as Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly within six years of launching his party, the only actor to have achieved this feat. Jayalalithaa’s story is altogether different as she got the AIADMK on a platter after MGR’s death in 1987.

His political entry began on the right note. The party’s name boasted of the word Dravidam, as Vijayakanth sensed people’s pulse, and he went on to win his debut election from Virudhachalam and led his party to an impressive 8.5 per cent vote share, within eight months of the launch.

After four years of contesting alone – DMDK’s vote share in 2009 Lok Sabha elections was 10.3 percent, Vijayakanth succumbed to pressure from his colleagues to ally with one of the Dravidian parties, effectively watering down his ‘change agent’ plank.

Thus the downfall of politician Vijayakanth and his DMDK began in 2011 though the party won 29 assembly seats in an alliance with the AIADMK.

His incoherent speech, not being able to run the party with Jayalalithaa taking up on herself the challenge of “finishing off” his DMDK by weaning away his MLAs, many of whom were his colleagues for decades, and lack of wise political decision, pushed the Captain to the annals of political history. Above all, his health failed him and he was confined to his home for the past few years.

But he will always be remembered for two things -- compassion and guts.