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Superstar of the small screen
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What's it that makes Vijay Adiraj tick? Read on
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Mr. Nice Guy: Vijay Adiraj
VIJAY ADIRAJ is better known by the characters he has played on the small screen such as Prasad of "Chithi", Anwar of "Annamalai" and now Ramani of "Manaivi", his latest serial.
This handsome hero has a fantastic fan following among women. The TRP obsessed marketing men and channel heads want him to do more serials and call him "The Vijay of the small screen", comparing him to Tamil superstar Vijay!
Whatever be the role he plays — a trusting husband, a sacrificing brother, a devoted son or a loyal friend — there is something about Vijay that makes television viewers root for him.
The `Nice Guy' image has worked wonders for his career and made him the highest paid male actor on Tamil television.
What is it that makes Vijay click?
Though Vijay is of Telugu origin, he was brought up in Chennai. He has been in the industry for the past 10 years.
His father, Anand Mohan, a Telugu producer, wanted to make Vijay a film star but it never worked.
Says Vijay: "Even now when my father watches my serials, tears roll down his cheeks and he still believes that I will make it big in films one day!"
Vijay has done a couple of films which did not create an impact.
He is still hoping to get the right break in films and says, "In Hindi, Shah Rukh Khan had begun his career as a television artiste and even now actors such as Sanjay Suri, and Aman Verma are able to make an impression on the big screen.
But unfortunately, in the South, producers feel television artistes are over exposed."
But Vijay has no regrets, as he says: "All my serials on Sun TV had immense reach and wherever I go I get the same recognition that a movie star gets.
Actually once you get good roles on TV you should not accept insignificant roles in films."
Vijay is grateful to Kalanidhi Maran of Sun TV who gave him the initial breaks when he anchored programmes such as "Neengal Keta Padal" and Radhika Sarathkumar of `Radaan' and director C. J. Baskar, who has given him meaty roles.
Woman-centric serials
Vijay makes no bones about it when he says: "Indian television is woman-centric; men are there just like props.
But I have been lucky to do powerful male characters; still the bottom line is male roles on television are only to help women characters get highlighted.
I have no complaints about it as serial business is TRP-driven."
Vijay says there are at least five Tamil serials now on air with similar storylines about suffering women who make it big as business magnates!
Vijay follows a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. routine almost everyday as he is doing two mega serials now — "Engirintho Vandhal" (Jaya TV) and "Manaivi" (Sun TV), the weekly musical show "Raagamaalika" (Jaya TV) and "Vikramaditya" (Sun TV).
He has also started work on his first serial in Telugu on Gemini TV for `Radaan'.
So what about his dreams of making it big in Kollywood? "That may happen by the end of the year, when I get a good script; I may produce the film myself. For now TV is a satisfying medium," he concludes.
SREEDHAR PILLAI
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