Tamil cinema bids goodbye to its ‘Captain’ : Remembering Vijayakanth

Indian politician and former actor, who was known by his stage name Vijayakanth passed away on December 28. Fondly called ‘Captain’, he was admitted to a private hospital on Thursday due to pneumonia. The hospital informed that Vijayakanth tested positive for Covid-19 and is on ventilator support.

Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder Vijayakanth was 71 and his original name was Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami. Before entering politics Vijayakanth was a successful actor, producer, and director. He played in 154 movies and is one of the most adored film personalities in the Tamil industry. Vijayakant's 100th film 'Captain Prabhakaran' was a massive hit. The film was released in 1991. It ran for more than 200 days, post which he got the sobriquet "Captain". Vijayakanth was one of very few Tamil actors to have acted only in Tamil films throughout his career. His films have mostly been dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. Throughout the 1990s, Vijayakanth excelled in versatile performances, even though he was more popular as an action hero including Pulan Visaranai.