Happy birthday Thalapathy!: Check out some rare images of the Vijay

Vijay or 'Ilayathalapathy Vijay' is one of the biggest stars Tamil cinema has produced. After exploring romance, drama, humour, dance and action in the early stage of his career, the actor discovered new innings as a mass hero in message-oriented films like 'Kaththi' and the recent blockbuster 'Mersal'. Take a look at some rare photos of Vijay, as he turns 47, from our archive.

Updated on:

22 Jun 2021, 12:08 pm

3 min read

Vijay was born on 22 June 1974 as Joseph Vijay in Chennai to SA Chandrasekhar, a Tamil film director and Shoba, a playback singer and carnatic vocalist. (Express Photo Archive)

16 April 2014: Actor Vijay with BJP's Narendra Modi in Coimbatore. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay is a well-known ambassdor of the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, right from 2008. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from Kavalan, a remake of the Malayalam film 'Bodyguard'. (Express Photo Archive)

14th May 2011: Vijay with his father meeting former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. (Express Photo Archive)

23rd June 2008: Vijay launched a flag for his fan club on the occasion of his 34th birthday. Actress Nayanthara is also seen. (Express Photo by U K Ravi)

23rd June 2008: Film producer Kalaipuli S Thanu presenting a gold chain to actor Vijay on his 34th birthday. (Express Photo by U K Ravi)

Vijay and Jyothika in 'Thirumalai', a 2003 hit action film written and directed by Ramana; later dubbed into Hindi as 'Dum 2' in 2015, then was remade in Telugu as 'Gowri' in 2004. 'Thirumalai' was again dubbed in Telugu as 'Gharana Mogudu'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Radhika Chaudhari in 'Priyamaanavale' (2000), written and directed by K Selva Bharathy. Simran played the female lead opposite Vijay. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay first earned the moniker ‘Ilayathalapathy’ (young thalapathy) in the 1994 film Rasigan. Vijay is a huge Thalaivar Rajinikanth fan and it was the veteran actor who had inspired him to become an actor. It is reported that the actor landed a role as a lead actor after an audition which he got after he quoted a famous line from Rajinikanth’s hit film ‘Annamalai’. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay first met his future wife Sangeetha Sornalingam in 1996, the daughter of a Tamil industrialist from Sri Lanka, settled in UK, she had seen his last film Poove Unakkaga, and was impressed by Vijay’s performance in the film. Little did they know that the fan would marry Vijay later. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Sangeetha married on 25th August, 1999 as per both Hindu and Christian wedding traditions. They have a son Jason Sanjay and daughter Divya Saasha who have both done cameos in Vijay's films. (Express Photo Archive)

His social welfare organization called ‘Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ carries out most of his philanthropic work for him. His fans also participate in blood donation drives on a yearly basis. He donates gold rings to newborns on his birthday each year. (Express Photo Archive)

13 April 2011: (L-R) SA Chandrasekhar, Vijay and Sangeetha at a voting booth. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Genelia D'Souza in the 2005 hit romantic comedy 'Sachein' directed by John Mahendran. (Express Photo Archive)

Manivannan (from left), Vijay and S S Chandran in a still from 'Once More' (1997), a family entertainer directed by his father SA Chandrashekhar. The ensemble cast included Saroja Devi, Sivaji Ganesan and Simran. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from 'Love Today'. The 1997 box office hit, written and directed by Balasekaran, featured Vijay and Suvalakshmi in the lead roles while Manthra, Raghuvaran, Karan and Bindu Panicker played supporting roles. (Express Photo Archive)

The blockbuster 2001 hit film, one of the highest-grossing films of the year, was directed by Siddique. It featured (from left) Ramesh Khanna, Suriya and Vijay, in the title roles, while Devayani, Abhinayashree, Vijayalakshmi, Sriman and Vadivelu amongst others played supporting roles. It is a remake of Siddique's own Malayalam film of the same title with actors Jayaram, Mukesh and Meena. 'Friends' was remade in Telugu as 'Snehamante Idera' starring Akkineni Nagarjuna, Sumanth, Bhumika Chawla and others. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Kousalya in the hit film 'Priyamudan'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a fight sequence. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from 'Badri', a 2001 Tamil sports-based action film directed by P A Arun Prasad. The film is the remake of 1999 Telugu film Thammudu starring Pawan Kalyan. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Monal in a still from 'Badri'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from a film. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from 'Priyamudan'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in 'Priyamudan'. (Express Photo Archive)

(L-R) Vijay, Charlee and Dhamu in 'Kadhalukka Mariyadhai'. The 1997 Tamil romantic musical film directed by Fazil was a remake of Fazil's successful Malayalam film, Aniathipravu, which featured Kunchacko Boban and Shalini in the lead roles. 'Kadhalukku Mariyadhai' starring Vijay and Shalini, is considered to be a path breaker in Vijay's career. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in 'Priyamaanavalae'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay and Bipasha Basu in Sachein. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from 'Badri'. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay had a sister Vidhya, who died when she was two years old. It has been said by his mother that Vijay grew introverted and was affected after Vidhya's death. While visiting NEET aspirant Anitha's brother (she committed suicide as she was denied a medical seat despite securing high marks in her 12th board exam), he told him: 'Even I had a sister once, so I know how painful it must be for you to lose a sister.' His production house- V.V Productions stands for Vidhya-Vijay productions. (Express Photo Archive)

Rajinikanth felicitates Vijay at the 200th-day success event of one of his hits in his career, 'Gilli' (a remake of the Telugu film 'Okkadu'). Looking on are actors Trisha and Chiyaan Vikram (left to right).

(R-L) Music director AR Rahman, actor Vijay and Rajinikanth's daughter Soundarya at the audio release of Aah...Aah..(Anbae..Aaruyirae) produced and directed by S J Surya. (Express Photo by P Jawahar)

Vijay and actor Vijaykanth worked together in the hit film 'Senthoorapandi' (1993) directed by SA Chandrasekhar. (Express Photo Archive)

5th November 2008: Music director M S Viswanathan and actor Vijay during FEFSI hunger strike in support of Srilankan Tamils (Express Photo by P Jawahar)

Vijay in a still from 'Velayudham', a 2001 superhero film written and directed by M Raja. (Express Photo Archive)

(L-R) Vijay, SJ Surya and Mumtaz on the sets of 'Kushi'. 'Kushi' was directed by SJ Surya and featured Vijay and Jyothika in the leading roles, while Mumtaj, Vivek and Vijayakumar played supporting roles. Released in 2000, Kushi was remade in several languages. In Hindi, the film was released as Khushi and in Telugu as Kushi and in Kannada as Eno Onthara. Jyothika won the Filmfare Best Actress Award in Tamil for her performance in the film. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in a still from 'Velayudham'. (Express Photo Archive)

A rare still of Vijay's. (Express Photo Archive)

Vijay in his younger days. (Express Photo Archive)

16th October 2007: The then-Chief Minister M Karunanidhi honours actor Vijay at a function. (Express Photo by P Jawahar)

Director Vikraman receiving a Dukes award from Vijay. (Express Photo Archive)

25th August 2011: Vijay expresses his solidarity with the anti-corruption movement as Anna Hazare looks on, in New Delhi (Expres Photo by A Raja Chidambaram).

Vijay's recent Diwali release 'Bigil' has turned out to be a blockbuster hit with the star's performance as Father Rayappan and son Michael aka BIgil receiving a lot of accolades.