Monday Jan 12 2009, Chennai

Joseph Vijay: The Evolution Chart!

Vijay may not be a stunner of an actor but when it comes to B.O. muscles, he is Mr. Kollywood!! The might of the 'Ilaiya Thalapathy' is such that even his so-called flop films fetch more moolah than the average Kollywood hit. Vijay's 'Villu' is getting ready for Pongal release. It's time for a rehash.

Here is the Joseph Vijay evolution chart.

'Naalaya Theerpu' (1992), directed by his father S.A.Chandrasekar, was Vijay's debut film. He was only 18 and a student of Loyola college then. Keerthana played the female lead. Srividya played the role of hero's mother and Radharavi, the villain. Manimegalai scored the music.

'Sendhoorapandi' (1993), directed again by S.A.Chandrasekar, had Vijay playing younger brother to Vijayakanth. His character falls in love with the one played by Yuvarani. The film has a few lilting tunes from Deva.

In 'Deva' (1995), again a S.A.Chandrasekhar film, Vijay played the title role of a young man who overcomes stiff resistance to marry his love, plyed by Swathi. Sivakumar, Manorama and Mansur Ali Khan are the other important members of the cast. Songs by Deva were a big hit.

'Chandralekha' (1995), directed by Nambirajan, was about a Muslim boy falling in love with an orthodox Brahmin girl. Vanitha Vijayakumar played the female lead. The music was scored by Ilaiyaraja.

'Kadhalukku Mariyadhai' (1997), a remake of the Malayalam superhit, 'Aniyathi Praavu', repeated the success at the Tamil B.O. This was the film that raised Vijay to superstardom. Shalini was the heroine and Fazil, the director. Songs by Ilaiyaraja propelled the success of the film and Vijay sang the song, "Oh Baby Baby". The role bagged him the State award for the Best Actor.

'Nerruku Ner' (1997), directed by Vasanth, marked Suriya's debut in Tamil cinema. Incidentally, Suriya was Vijay's collegemate. The songs, set to tune by Deva, were huge hits. Vijay also lent voice to the song, " Akhila akhia..." alongwith Anupama. The film was a super hit. Simran and Kausalya played the female leads.

'Priyamudan' (1998) had Vijay playing a hyper-possessive anti-hero. He was at his peak as a do-gooder hero when he took this risk to play a negative character. The film was a super hit. Kausalya plays the female lead and Deva scores the music.

'Thulladha Manamum Thullum' (1999), directed by Ezhil, had Vijay paired opposite Simran, who shared a great onscreen chemistry with the 'Ilaiya Thalapathy'. The film was a huge success.

'Minsara Kanna' (1999), written and directed by K.S. Ravikumar, has a huge star cast, including Monika, Rambha, and Khushboo. The film was a flop.

'Khushi' (2000), starring Vijay and Jyothika, was a great turning point in the career of both the artistes. The film was a blockbuster and the all the songs (Deva) became massive hits. The film was written and directed by S.J.Suryah.

'Friends' (2001), directed by Siddique, brought classmates Vijay and Suriya together again and the result was a superhit. A remake of the Malayalam hit by the same name, 'Friends' has Ramesh Khanna, Devayani, Abhinyashree, Vijayalakshmi and Vadivelu in important roles. The music, composed by Ilaiyaraaja, was one of the highlights of the film.

'Youth' (2002), directed by Vincent Selva, is mainly remembered for the song "Althota Boopathy...". Shaheen, Yugendran, Vivek, Manivannan and Haneefa form part of the cast. Simran does a cameo appearance. The film was an average grosser. The music was scored by Mani Sharma.

'Thirumalai' (2003), directed by Ramana, has Vijay and Jyothika pairing up again.This film was a huge success and ran for more than 125 days