Thalapathy Vijay bids tearful adieu to Vijayakanth

Chennai: The film industry and fans paid their final respects to veteran superstar Vijayakanth at the DMDK headquarters in Chennai, where his mortal remains were placed for public homage on Friday. 

Actor Vijay also paid his last respects to his favourite ‘Captain’. An emotional Vijay stood with folded hands in front of Vijayakanth’s lifeless body.

The duo had shared a longstanding emotional bond over the years. Vijayakanth rose to stardom through movies directed by Vijay’s father, S Chandrasekhar. In fact, Vijay made his debut in Tamil cinema as a child actor through Vijayakanth starrer ‘Vetri’.

There is an interesting backstory to the years of camaraderie between Vijayakanth and Vijay.        

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 “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.