Vijay filmography

Vijay is an Indian actor who works in Tamil language films. He made his cinematic debut in the 1984 drama Vetri, directed by his father, S. A. Chandrasekhar.^[1] After appearing in Chandrasekhar's films as an child artist in nearly 9 films, Vijay made his debut as a lead actor with Naalaiya Theerpu (1992).^[1] He followed it with a supporting role opposite Vijayakanth in Sendhoorapandi (1993).^[2] Vijay went on to play lead roles in his father's directorial ventures such as Rasigan (1994) and Deva (1995).^[2][3] Some which were successful at the box office but unsuccessful critically.^[4][5]

Vijay's first breakthrough was in 1996 with Vikraman's romance film, Poove Unakkaga.^[2][4] His subsequent films, Vasanth's Nerrukku Ner (1997) and Fazil's Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), were critically and commercially successful.^[4][6] His performance in the latter won him the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.^[4] Thulladha Manamum Thullum (1999) earned him a Tamil Nadu state Award.^[7][8]

Vijay began the new millennium with critically and commercially successful films such as Kushi and Priyamanavale.^[9][10] The following year, he performed in three films: Friends, Badri and Shahjahan. All of which had a 100-day theatrical run.^[2][11] His subsequent films Vaseegara and Pudhiya Geethai did not do well at the box office.^[12][13] The success of his masala film Thirumalai (2003),^[14] where he was paired opposite Jyothika, changed his on-screen persona to that of an action hero.^[15] He appeared next as a kabaddi player opposite Trisha in Dharani's Ghilli (2004), which went on to become the most commercially successful Tamil film of the year. It was also the first Tamil film to earn ₹500 million (Indian rupees).^[4][16] His performance as a caring brother in the masala film Thirupachi (2005) earned him a second Tamil Nadu State Award.^[17][18] He continued to achieve commercial success with Sivakasi (2005) and Pokkiri (2007).^[19][20] Barring Vettaikaaran (2009),^[21] all of his subsequent releases from Azhagiya Thamizh Magan (2007), where he played dual roles for the first time in his career,^[22] to Villu (2009) were average successes; and his 50th film, Sura (2010), was a commercial failure.^[23]

In 2011 Vijay's career prospects improved after he was praised for his role as a bodyguard in Kaavalan.^[24][25] The following year he appeared in two films: as a college student in Nanban and an army officer in Thuppakki.^[26][27] His performances in both films received positive critical feedback,^[28] He followed that with A. L. Vijay's Thalaivaa (2013) and the multi-starrer Jilla (2014). The latter featured him along with Mohanlal. Both films were successful.^[29][30] He teamed up with Murugadoss again for the action film Kaththi (2014). The film, which had Vijay playing dual roles as a thief and an idealist, became one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of that year.^[31] He featured as a tribal warrior in his next film, Puli (2015);^[32] it was a commercial failure.^[33] The following year, he played a police officer in Theri (2016).^[34] The film had one of the biggest openings in Tamil cinema,^[35] grossing ₹1.5—1.56 billion worldwide, and is among the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time.^[36][37]

• All films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.

• Vijay filmography on IMDb