Chiyaan Vikram Turns 48!

Yes, today (April 17) is the birthday of Tamil cinema’s own Chiyaan Vikram. The actor is currently working with Sankar on his next big budget project I.


Vikram’s career is definitely one for the books and an inspiration to his fans. After staring off in 1990 in the movie En Kaadhal Kanmani, it took the actor almost a decade of hard work and non stardom to stay in the very competitive movie industry.

During this period he took supporting roles in various movies playing second fiddle to the stars. It was only when director Bala’s Sethu won the viewers’ hearts that Vikram gained some visibility to the fandom at large. Sethu was remade years later in Hindi, starring Salman Khan, as Tere Naam. The nickname ‘chiyaan’ was bestowed upon the actor in honour of his performance in the movie by the fans.

In the next few years, Vikram proved that he could play the dashing action hero as well, with hits like Gemini, Dhool and Saamy. The movie Pithamagan, which was an unconventional one by all standards in those days, put Vikram’s acting skills to the test and won him national recognition with a justly deserved Best Actor national award. He played a graveyard caretaker from the lower cast, with autism and related mental disabilities struggling with life and his humanity.

However, it was Sankar’s superhit movie Anniyan which made Vikram the superstar he is today. The movie’s success meant dubbed releases in multiple industries. His avatar in the movie or rather avatars have become iconic in south Indian cinema.

Vikram though, chose this as the opportune time to indulge his passion for versatility and since then the actor has been very picky with his projects, focusing on diversity of characters rather than mass popularity. This of course meant a decline in his box office value but he remains unflinchingly true to his path and therefore a favourite with the fans.

It is at this stage of his career that he has chosen to do another project with the hit maker Sankar. Given Anniyan’s mega success, the fans have a lot to look forward to from this project. Already Sankar has declared that the audio launch of the movie will be held in Canada and there might be some big names from Hollywood, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who might make an appearance.

So in these very eventful and exciting days, we wish the versatile actor that is Vikram, a very happy birthday!

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