4 min readChennaiDec 28, 2023 05:10 PM IST
“Andha vinnukum mannukum samandham undunu sonnathu yaar? Adhu mannavan paeru (Who proved there is a bond between heaven and the earth? It’s our king.” Perhaps, this line from Chinna Gounder, in the voice and composition of Ilaiyaraaja, is the song playing in the heads of many across Tamil Nadu today. Actor Ilavarasu, a frequent collaborator of Vijayakanth, while mourning the death of the star, made a valid observation that how irrespective of his success and failures in politics, Vijayakanth remained someone who was never hated by the masses. Almost all celebrities of Tamil Nadu have invariably noted how the actor was a people’s champion and helped the downtrodden.
To describe the mindset of Vijayakanth, a viral video of his speech at a public meeting, would help. In the clip, Captain says, “What is everyone going to do with crores and crores of rupees? Won’t you all feed me, my wife, and my sons? Won’t there be a small space for me and my family? Isn’t that enough? If I start spending one day at every one of your homes, I can live through life. What is then money? Even when we are burnt, they take off the arunakodi (a thread tied in the hip in people down South). Am I going to take all of it when I go?”
TN lost yet another good politician #vijayakanth who could have been a great leader.. Politics destroyed this evolving politician for political reasons..
The thing I liked about #vijayakanth is.. He was good-hearted human, he was truthfulness to all the work he did and his… pic.twitter.com/1SKBQbbvwd
— Mouli Jayaraman (@moulij) December 28, 2023
Everyone who knows Vijayakanth recalls how he fed everyone who stepped inside his office in Rohini Lodge in Chennai. Many people, on the pretext of narrating scripts, went in only to quench their hunger. Though Vijayakanth knew of it, the hospitality reminded the same for everyone. Actor Ramesh Kanna, who has worked with Vijayakanth as an actor and director, told Sun News, “It doesn’t matter if you are a director or an assistant director, he treats everyone the same. When I tried to pitch him a story, he refused to listen and said, ‘I am doing it. You are directing.’ He didn’t even bother listening to the script, but I turned actor and couldn’t do the film. The script was later made as Aadhavan with Suriya Sir.”
Vijayakanth was also the first person to introduce uniform meals on film sets. Due to some bitter experience in his formative years, the actor decided that people on the set have to eat the same meals he was eating. His move revolutionized the industry, which till then didn’t have the concept of a full-meal for film crew.
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Actor Nasser, the president of Nadigar Sangam, a post formally held by Vijayakanth, in his tribute to Vijayakanth mentioned how the actor was always thinking about people, and that’s the reason he was able to resurrect the film body which was in tatters before his takeover. The actor brought together all the leading actors of the industry including Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan and conducted cultural events in Singapore and Malaysia to raise funds to take the film body out of debt. Talking about the same, Ramesh Kanna said, “Why do you think even stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan respected his words and followed him? It is because, in the eyes of Vijayakanth, everyone was equal and never took sides. He dared to speak the truth wherever and whenever.”
Vijayakanth was 71.