Arun Vijay

Arun Vijay had a desire to act since childhood. He developed a strong interest by watching his father during film shoots. In order to achieve his goal of becoming an actor, his father encouraged him to join classes for extracurricular activities such as dancing, swimming, skating and horse-riding. Arun Vijay started getting film offers when he was in tenth grade but his father wanted him to complete his schooling before acting in films.[6]

Arun Vijay signed on for an A. R. Rahman musical 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).[7] He was 18 years old when he 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 Manivannan, K. Prabakaran, Kalaranjini, Goundamani and Senthil. The film was released on December 1995. Arun Vijay was praised for his dance and fight sequences in the movie.

In 1996, Arun Vijay's second film, Priyam, was released. Its 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 Vijay was a versatile dancer.

Arun Vijay then signed for two films Kathirunda Kadhal and Ganga Gowri under Ganga Gowri Productions. Both were released in 1997.[8][9] Kathirunda Kadhal was Arun's first film with Suvalakshmi.

In 1998, Arun Vijay played the lead role in director Balasekaran's film Thulli Thirintha Kaalam. It was produced by Kavithalayaa Productions, a company owned by K.Balachander. The film was a commercial success and was later remade in Telugu with a different cast.[10]

In 2000, Arun Vijay featured in two films, Kannaal Pesavaa and Anbudan. Kannal Pesavaa was released in August 2000 and was his second film with actors Suvalakshmi, Goundamani and Senthil. Anbudan, released in November 2000, had two heroines Meena and Rambha.[11] The film had a unique storyline but failed to make it big in the box office because of poor marketing and publicity due to budget restraints.[12] His career hit a nadir when Buddhan, a project which he had physically transformed for, was stalled and dropped in 2000.[13]

In 2001, he played a civil engineer in Pandavar Bhoomi, directed by Cheran. This was the first movie in which Arun Vijay and his father Vijayakumar acted together. Vijayakumar played the role of Arun Vijay's father in the movie. This movie proved Arun Vijay's potential, and won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (Second Prize) in 2001.[14]

Arun Vijay's next film was Mutham (2002). It was initially titled Muthamidalamma, but was changed after the censor screening. It was directed by S.A. Chandrasekhar and was the first film to be shot using digital cinematography in Tamil cinema.[15][16]

Arun Vijay had a special appearance in Iyarkai (2003), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.

He acted in director Ramesh Selvan's Jananam (2004). He had high hopes for this film's storyline, but it had a lot of problems during the production period. The film's heroine Priyanka Trivedi could not fulfill her scheduled commitments in the film, as she got married in 2003.[17] The producer was not able to change the heroine as they had already filmed major portions of the film, and this resulted in the film being released without a proper screenplay and an edited storyline. The producer had a huge loss and was not able to release the film despite having a scheduled release date.[18] The film failed to make a mark, as the screenplay was not good and the story was incomplete.[19] However, critics appreciated Arun Vijay's acting in the movie.[20]

In October 2006, Arun changed his name from Arunkumar to Arun Vijay, hoping that a new name would bring better luck for him.

In 2009, he 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 (2009), directed by A. Venkatesh, became a commercial success. The next, Maanja Velu (2010), by the same team, was also a success. Arun Vijay 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, became a super hit.

Vijay waited for 17 years to be recognized as a good hero in the Tamil film industry.[21][22] His work was finally recognized by a wider audience.[22]

He starred in Yennai Arindhaal (2015) with actor Ajith Kumar. This was his first film with director Gautham Menon. Arun Vijay played the role of Victor, an antagonist. In order to enhance the character, he said that he worked out at the gym for more than six hours a day. He was also on a high protein diet. Arun Vijay was appreciated by Kumar and Menon for his dedication and hard work.[23] Arun Vijay's performance received an overwhelming response from the audience.

The same year, he debuted in Telugu in the film Bruce Lee - The Fighter (2015) as the lead antagonist. He also made his Kannada debut as the lead antagonist in the movie Chakravyuha in 2016.[24][25] Kuttram 23 (2017) was a success at the box office.[26] His next movie was Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018),directed by Mani Ratnam which did very well at the box office. His character Thyagu was very well appreciated.

In 2019, Arun Vijay acted in Thadam, an action crime thriller. He played his first double role in this film. This was also the second film in which he and Magizh Thirumeni worked together, after Thadaiyara Thaakka.[27] The film was loosely based on various real-life crimes where the suspects are identical twins. Thadam's biggest strength was Arun Vijay's convincing performance as Kavin and Ezhil. Though the brothers looked similar, he showed a distinct body language and a unique dialogue delivery for the two characters.[28] The film was a blockbuster hit.

In the action thriller film Saaho, Prabhas was the hero while Arun Vijay played a pivotal role.[29]

On September 1, 2015 Arun Vijay launched his own production company, In Cinemas Entertainment (ICE).[30] He said that he launched the company to identify and provide an opportunity to ambitious and talented youngsters.[31]

His first production venture was Kuttram 23 (2017), a medical crime thriller directed by Arivazhagan. Arun Vijay acted as a police officer for the first time. This was his 23rd film, and was expected to release during the Pongal festival, but the producers were not able to get enough theaters to screen the film due to the release of Bairavaa.[32][33] The film was postponed to release on March 3, 2017.[34] It had a special screening for distributors before the release. Screening films for distributors was the norm in the Tamil film industry a couple of decades ago, but this tradition gradually faded and films were bought by distributors based on the actor's star value.[35] Kuttram 23 was released on March 3, 2017 and received positive reviews from critics and audiences.[36]