‘Captain’ Vijayakanth helped ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay revive his career

‘Captain’ Vijayakanth and ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay are favourite action heroes of the Tamil film audience. It should be noted that at the beginning of his career, Vijayakanth acted in several movies directed by Vijay’s father SA Chandrasekhar. In fact, Vijay made his debut in Tamil cinema as a child actor through the Vijayakanth-starrer ‘Vetri’ directed by Chandrasekhar. 

Interestingly, Vijayakanth played a pivotal role in setting up Vijay’s career as an actor. ‘Naalaiya Theerpu’, Vijay’s first movie as a lead actor which was released in 1992 turned out to be a flop. The film was directed and produced by his father. With ‘Naalaiya Theerpu’ underperforming at the box office, Chandrasekhar approached Vijayakanth requesting him to act alongside his son in an upcoming film. He was sure that Vijayakanth's presence would attract crowds to the theatres. Chandrasekhar’s predictions proved right, ‘Sendhoorapandi’ starring Vijay and Vijayakanth turned out to be a major blockbuster, hence helping Vijay revive his career. 

It is known that Vijayakanth had acted in ‘Sendhoorapandi’ without accepting remuneration. Chandrasekhar, later on, said that “Vijayakanth did a great favour to my son. Had he not helped back then, Vijay’s fate would have been a different one.”

Vijay, with back-to-back blockbusters, is one of the most sought-after actors in the country today.