| Alias | Vijay, Duniya Viji, Kari Chirathe |
|---|---|
| Age | 44 years |
| Height | 5'8" |
| Occupation | Actor, Lyrics, Producer |
| Language Worked in | Kannada |
| Spouse | Nagarathna |
| Birth Place | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Parents | Rudrappa, Narayanamma |
| Favourite Cuisine | South Indian |
| City | Bangalore |
Vijay was born to Rudrappa and Narayanamma in a poor family in Anekal. He was not too good at studies, but was a good athlete. To support himself, he has also worked as a stuntman and a gym instructor. Vijay is married to Nagarathna and has three children from her.
Vijay has, on 17 January 2013, filed for divorce from his second wife, preferring to live with his mother. He alleged that his wife does not take care of his parents and also his children, an allegation which the children refused. Nagarathna, however, refused to divorce, stating that she was okay fine with Vijay's alleged marriage to actress Shubha Poonja and with living together with in laws, all for the sake of their children.
Vijay did a semi-art film Avva for Kavita Lankesh at the start of 2008. Vijay won accolades for a bravura performance, but the film did not do well. He was then seen in Sumana Kittur's Slum Bala towards the end of 2008, which also did mediocre business. The consensus was that both films lacked action, which was Vijay's forte. In 2009, Vijay was seen in action oriented films,namely, MR Ramesh's Thaakath and Junglee directed by Soori and also in actor Sadhu Kokila's directorial Devru. Of all these, Junglee proved to be a success at the box-office.
The turning point in Vijay's career came with mentor Soori's directorial debut Duniya. Vijay was cast as the idiot with the golden heart who gets mercilessly used by the underworld. His acting won rave reviews from critics, he was even appreciated personally by his idol Rajnikant. Vijay went on to win the State and Filmfare awards for his role in the film. In 2007, Vijay appeared in three more films - Yuga, Chanda and Geleya. Yuga was an action oriented film on the lines of Duniya, but it was not a box office success. Vijay did a supporting role in Geleya, when Prakash Rai walked out of the film at the last moment.
In 2007, Vijay made more news with his film Chanda. The film was directed by S. Narayan, who had supposedly agreed with Vijay that he would release the film six weeks after Yuga, so that there would be no clash. The director supposedly did not keep this promise, for which reason Vijay refused to dub for the film. The matter was settled with the KFCC, who decided to impose a year long ban on the actor. After much intervention the ban was repealed and Vijay was free to do other movies. Chanda did average business at the box office.