The unlikely and extraordinary success of Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami and the best way it overwhelmed the world round him was obvious on the day he died. Within the morning, when Vijayakant, as his later, extra profitable avatar was known as, died, even earlier than the official information was out, folks have been wailing and keening, some dropping on the street, choking the streets of Saligramam and Koyambedu with grief. What did they see on this man, eclipsed many moons in the past by a sequelae of well being points, rendering him enfeebled, and enervated in public appearances, satirically almost comical, like a parody of the most effective model of himself. In him, they noticed excessive kindness, generosity, a person who gave to all who sought his assist. However, most of all, they noticed in him the potential of hope being realised, the flexibility of a dream to return true.
Traditionally, any movie business is ripe with situations of elevating folks from nothing to dizzying heights of fame. You could possibly say that Vijayakant was one in every of them. However then, you’ll be lacking an enormous chunk of the story, the true laborious work and on a regular basis magic behind the searing rise from the bottom of rungs one may probably grasp on to, earlier than failing, falling. When he arrived in Chennai, loaded solely with goals and his shirt on his again, with little training, skinny, and darker than those that aspired to make it huge within the movies, it was a problem thrown to your entire pantheon of gods. Would this man, so not within the mould, make one thing of himself in spite of everything? As a result of if he did, then, it allowed the hole hope enriched by achievement to proceed to encourage others. Rise, he did. And the way, when it lastly occurred. It was true that Rajinikanth had damaged the mould of the stereotypically honest hero, creating some house for different tropes there. Vijayakant, additionally, very like his predecessor, moved from villain to hero, his darkish visage, and charming smile, rustic quirks aiding him to take each step forward. Music by Ilaiyaraaja has sculpted many heroes in Tamil Nadu, and Vijayakant is prime amongst them.
A profession then was normal, spiced with reluctant romances you desperately hoped would succeed (Amman Koil Kizhakale), fashionable motion with the eponymous Captain Prabhakaran, dangerous stunts as in Sethupathi IPS, tales that drew you in equivalent to Vaidehi Kathirunthal, generally a contact of pathos, then crusaders (Ramana) and cops (Pulan Visaranai) because the actor star matured to make use of the medium as his message. He picked a reformist agenda, like former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran did, crafting an on-screen presence that might pave his path to a political rise.
Concurrently his status of being a beneficiant man grew inside and outdoors the movie business. Like MGR, he would insist on making certain each one round him didn’t lack meals. He additionally tirelessly helped these round him, not stinting to pay the charges of college kids, or sparing some lakhs for somebody’s surgical procedure. All you needed to do was ask ‘Captain’. Typically you didn’t even should ask him, if Vijayakant had heard of your travails, it was fairly doubtless he would volunteer help, all of the whereas, ensuring to maintain it behind the limelight. The tales slipped out although, as they normally do, suffusing the aura across the Captain, making him a much-loved legend.
It was with the identical flamboyance, as we noticed in his movies, that he launched himself into politics. By all respects, a tougher-to-please grasp than movies, politics one way or the other made exception for Vijayakant, in all probability counting in his preliminary years of battle within the movie business. How else would a fledgling social gathering constructed from scratch only a yr in the past garner over 8% of the votes polled in 2006 and go on to enhance on that achievement within the 2009 common election?
Right here was a components for achievement then, one which was seen to work. A Vijayakant had damaged the mould for them; if this boy-next-door, amid nice adversity, may scale that formidable wall, and hoist a flag on the summit, possibly they may too. He was their proof of extra than simply hope, he was the proof they may too.
That’s the reason they mourn lengthy and lugubriously for the nice, profitable man that Vijayakant ceased to be, on Thursday.