Arun Vijay

Arun Vijay (born 19 November 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer and stunt coordinator.^[1] He is the only son of veteran film actor Vijayakumar and has been active in the Tamil film industry since 1995. An adventurous person by nature, he has his license to skydive from the United States Parachute Association.^[2]

Early life and family

Arun Vijay was born into a film family as the only son to actor Vijayakumar and his first wife Muthukannu. He studied at Don Bosco Maticulation Primary School, Egmore. After completing his schooling, Arun joined Loyola college for his higher studies. He has two elder sisters Kavitha, who has acted in a single film, Coolie,^[3] and Anitha. Arun Vijay's step mother is actress Manjula Vijayakumar, who played lead roles in over 100 films in the 1970s, while his half-sisters Vanitha, Preetha and Sridevi have also appeared in several films.

In 2006, Arun Vijay married Aarthi, daughter of film producer Dr. N. S. Mohan and a post-graduate in Psychology,^[4][5] with whom he has a daughter, Purvi and a son, Arnav Vijay. In 2010, Kavitha's daughter Hasini married N. S. Mohan's son Hemanth, who is a co-producer of Feather Touch Entertainments and has also acted alongside Arun Vijay in Malai Malai.^[3][6]

Film career

Acting

Arun Vijay had a desire towards acting since childhood. He had developed a strong interest by watching his father during film shoots. In order to achieve his goal of becoming an actor, Arun's father encouraged him to join classes for extracurricular activities such as dancing, swimming, skating and horse-riding. Arun started getting film offers when he was in tenth grade but his father wanted him to complete his schooling before acting in films.^[7]

Arun Vijay signed on for an A. R. Rahman musical titled Love Story to be his acting debut, but the delay of that project meant that he accepted Anbalaya Films' offer of Sundar C's Murai Mappillai (1995).^[8] Arun was just 18 years old when he had signed to act in Murai Mapillai. This made him one of the youngest actors to debut as a hero in the Tamil film industry. Murai Mapillai had a star cast which included actors like Manivannan, K. Prabakaran, Kalaranjini, Goundamani and Senthil. The film was released on December 1995. Arun was praised for his dance and fight sequences in the movie.

In 1996 Arun's second film Priyam was released. The film's music was composed by Vidyasagar. The songs became a huge hit among the Tamil audience especially the song "Dilruba Dilruba" It was one of the top songs in 1996 and was choreographed well in the movie. It proved that Arun was a versatile dancer.

Following Priyam's release, Arun signed for two films Kathirunda Kadhal and Ganga Gowri under Ganga Gowri Productions. Both the films were released in 1997.^[9][10]

In 2001 Arun played the role of an architect in Pandavar Bhoomi. The movie was directed by Cheran. Pandavar Bhoomi was the first movie in which Arun and his father Vijayakumar had acted together. Vijayakumar played the role of Arun's father in the movie. The film was a moderate success in the box office but had to be taken off movie theatres because of the release of Aalavandhan which was a big budget film during that time. Pandavar Bhoomi proved Arun's potentials and it had won the Tamil Nadu State award for Best film (Second Prize) in 2001.^[11]

In October 2006 he had changed his name from Arunkumar to Arun Vijay, hoping that a new name would bring better luck for him.^[12] In 2009, Arun Vijay opted against starring in low budget films and opted to collaborate with his father-in-law's production house Feather Touch Entertainment for his future projects. The first venture, Malai Malai directed by A. Venkatesh, became a commercial success. While the next film, Maanja Velu (2010) by the same team, was also a success. He then appeared in Magizh Thirumeni's action-thriller, Thadaiyara Thaakka (2012), marking a move away from his previous two masala films. The film, which featured Mamta Mohandas alongside Arun Vijay, became a super hit.

In spite of being a very talented actor Arun vijay had to wait for 17 years to get recognized as a good hero in Tamil film industry.^[13] It was a pity that the Tamil audience failed to recognize such a promising actor early in his career. Thadaiyara Thaakka was the biggest hit in Arun Vijay's career. Arun's talent and hard work was finally recognized by a wider audience.

After Thadaiyara Thaakka Arun starred in Yennai Arindhaal. He played the role of Victor, an antagonist in the film. Arun's performance had an overwhelming response from the audience. He was well appreciated for his dedication and hard work. The same year, he debuted in Telugu through the film Bruce Lee – The Fighter as the lead antagonist. The actor has completed his fourth successive film under the Feather Touch Entertainment banner, Vaa Deal co-starring Karthika Nair. He also made his Kannada debut as the lead antagonist through the movie Chakravyuha in 2016. Vaa Deal would be releasing on September 30, 2016.

Production

On September 1, 2015 Arun launched his own production company In Cinemas Entertainment (ICE).^[14] Arun had said that he had launched this company to identify and provide an opportunity to ambitious and talented youngsters. Arun's first production venture would be Kuttram 23 which will be a medical crime thriller directed by Arivazhagan. Arun will be acting as a police officer for the first time in his career. Kuttram 23 would be Arun's 23rd film in his career and is expected to release in December 2016.^[15]

Filmography

Actor

Singer

References