HIS accomplishments as an entertainer resembled those of Rajinikanth, his political vocation repeated the progress of M G Ramachandran (MGR), and he additionally procured himself a moniker, 'Chief', like the best in Tamil Nadu do. In any case, as he died early Thursday, it would stay the destiny of Vijayakanth to remain in their shadow - a meteor that shined brilliantly and consumed with extreme heat.

While film and legislative issues have consistently met around here, the change isn't so natural as described - and Vijayakanth was the main entertainer after MGR to have very made an interpretation of his realistic notoriety into significant political impact. While J Jayalalithaa additionally contacted political highs, she had MGR as coach.

There are numerous other people who dropped off the radar, from Sivaji Ganesan prior to Kamal Haasan now.

In his productive film vocation, Vijayakanth acted in more than 150 movies, separating himself in amount as well as with the idea of his jobs. He depicted a cop in multiple dozen movies, and his plots frequently revolved around topics of genuineness, hostile to debasement, and the meaning of keeping guarantees - which went far towards supporting political help for him among poor people.

Before he drifted the DMDK (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam) to make his political presentation, Vijayakanth likewise diagrammed a performance course in films, not considered to be lined up with any camp.

The nonconformist
Vijayakanth's starting points were modest, brought into the world as Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswamy in August 1952, to the second spouse of his dad and losing his folks early. The family, from the Telugu 'Naidu' people group, didn't have a place with any of the customarily compelling Tamil positions, which was again exceptional in a state described by its perplexing duopoly of hostile to rank legislative issues as well as the predominance of strong OBC standings in governmental issues and business.

As his star rose, Vijayakanth stayed in contact with the two his two stepsisters and his own kin, somewhere around one of whom settled down close to his home. Notwithstanding, in later years, his reality came to rotate to a great extent around spouse Premalatha and her sibling, L K Sudheesh.

It were the jobs he depicted which assisted Vijayakanth with transcending the limitations of a microscopic station base, with the entertainer transformed lawmaker effectively utilizing his fan following into a devoted vote bank, particularly among the financially and socially minimized.

Vijayakanth (1952-2023): 
His realistic story too followed a comparative plot. In spite of his predictable deliveries beginning from the 1980s, Vijayakanth's undertakings didn't make quick business progress, especially in metropolitan places. Nonetheless, they acquired significant income from provincial theaters - procuring him the title 'Raja of B and C Class Theaters' among makers.

One model was Vijayakanth's super-hit film 'Chinna Gounder', which ran for more than a year in rustic theaters, convincing different stars to look for jobs of town pioneers who convey equity to their networks. His different victories included 'Amman Kovil Kizhakale', 'Senthoora Poove', and 'Vaidhegi Kaathirunthaal', considered as much social tourist spots as business ones. Vijayakanth counted late Tamil star Jaishankar and Bhanupriya as among the best entertainers the business had seen.

In 1991, the film Skipper Prabhakaran procured Vijayakanth the title of 'Chief'.

At the point when it came to marriage, Vijayakanth again took the offbeat course. "Once, he explained to us why he looked for marriage into a non-film family, refering to the non-dubious weddings of entertainers Sivaji Ganesan and Shivakumar (father of Tamil star Surya)… He decided to wed Premalatha, an alum from a monetarily sound Telugu Naidu family," a dear companion told The Indian Express in a meeting in 2016.

Among those present at the wedding were the late DMK pioneer M Karunanidhi and Congress pioneer G K Mooppanar.

The marriage
While Vijayakanth selected alert in his decision of a soul mate, Premalatha would come to be viewed as having an iron hand on the entertainer, turning large numbers of his partners away. Among them were the late Ibrahim Rowther, a maker and a companion considered among those nearest to Vijayakanth; and Ramu Vasanthan, who played had a vital impact in drifting of the DMDK.

This separating from previous helpers matched with a rut in Vijayakanth's movie profession. As his movies got a tepid reaction, he floated gradually towards a political introduction, supported by Premalatha, who held onto fantasies about seeing him become CM.

Premalatha's sibling Sudheesh likewise assumed a crucial part, decisively controlling Vijayakanth's realistic persona to incorporate movies with more grounded political messages and conflict with the decision class, in this way reverberating with a more extensive crowd. The timing was accidental, given the rise of more youthful stars in Tamil film like Vijay, Ajith, Surya and Vikram.

In 2005, when Vijayakanth drifted the DMDK, veteran Tamil legislators like Panruti S Ramachandran were there to help him along. After their long partition, Vijayakanth would turn up at Rowther's home just in 2015, to go to his memorial service. As he stood sobbing, Premalatha's emotionless appearance didn't be ignored.

The mission

Vijayakanth made his grandiose desires clear at the DMDK send off, showing up at the meeting in a blue van once utilized by MGR for his missions. With Premalatha ending up being a convincing speaker, the change of Skipper Vijayakanth to "Karuppu MGR (Dull MGR)" was viewed as on course.

The 2006 Get together races, the DMDK's most memorable major discretionary test, gave a further lift. While the party won only 1 seat (Vijayakanth's), having challenged in each of the 234 in the state, it gathered a great 8% of the complete vote share.

Then came the 2009 Lok Sabha surveys, where the DMDK got 10.3% of the votes and arisen as Tamil Nadu's third-biggest party. The 2011 Get together decisions addressed the apex of the DMDK's political excursion. In union with the AIADMK, the party won 29 of the 41 seats it challenged - completing second - with its all out vote share just appearance a slight slide from 2006.

That left the DMDK in the exceptional place of being a pre-survey partner of the decision AIADMK yet the principal Resistance after the races, with Vijayakanth partaking in the situation with Head of the Resistance. Vijayakanth likewise made a name for magnanimity. In 2014, he gave bikes to handicapped party supporters, disseminating four vehicles in every one of Tamil Nadu's 33 regions; in 2018, he gave Rs 1 crore for Kerala's alleviation reserve.

Babu Murugavel, a previous DMDK MLA who went through years working intimately with Vijayakanth, says the entertainer trusted profoundly in the demonstration of giving. "He frequently said that finding a dependence in giving gifts was the best accomplishment Of his life," he says, including that there have been severa similitudes amongst Vijayakanth and MGR. "Skipper lived like MGR; he epitomized that equivalent soul and liberality."

The minimization

After the 2011 Get together survey high, the DMDK's plummet started. In the 2014 Lok Sabha decisions, which it battled as a component of the NDA, it neglected to win a solitary seat. Then again, the BJP enjoyed the fruit of his labor to enroll a presence in the state where it was essentially non-existent, with Vijayakanth discussing Narendra Modi, then the BJP's prime ecclesiastical up-and-comer, in towns and towns across the state.

In the 2016 Tamil Nadu Gathering races, the DMDK exchanged sides, this time lining up with an alliance of Left-wing parties. In any case, its presentation was bleak once more, with the party overseeing just 2.4% of the votes, in spite of promoting Vijayakanth as one of the CM up-and-comers, and notwithstanding the groups answering eagerly to mottos of "May Tamil Nadu Boss Clergyman Skipper Vijayakanth, Long experience the Dull MGR live forever" and cheering him as he started talks with "Anbukonda pothumakkale (My dear residents)".

The enthusiasm of the gatherings couldn't conceal the way that Vijayakanth was noticeably weak, with the DMDK guaranteeing more limited public appearances and displaying Premalatha all things considered.

The 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Gathering surveys additionally showed a reducing Vijayakanth, with his vote share tumbling to 2.16% and 0.43%, separately. At this point, Vijayakanth was a code of his previous self, expecting help to get to the stage and staying there without talking, as Premalatha made an honest effort to fill the hole.

She straightforwardly tended to tales about his condition, guaranteeing it was just sinus, and, surprisingly, owned up to his irritability yet additionally forthrightness. Simply a fortnight prior, with Vijayakanth having enjoyed almost a month in emergency clinic without any indications of progress, Premalatha was designated the overall secretary of the DMDK. She recognized her "crown of thistles" and made it a highlight contact the feet of a wheelchair-bound Vijayakanth, who was available in front of an audience to observe the progress.

The DMDK keeps on being a critical political substance in Tamil Nadu, she proclaimed, and "will send MPs to Delhi in 2024". "Be it any coalition, let us talk, give it recorded as a hard copy," Premalatha said. To many, the circumstance resounded with one more political change: from MGR to the one who remained by him till the end, Jayalalithaa. Yet, Vijayakanth would never be MGR and, with the BJP hiding at the entryway, Premalatha might find Jayalalithaa's shoes outsized.