Vijay Awards - 2007

Introduction

Vijay Awards is the homegrown award show of the Tamil TV channel STAR Vijay. The award was hosted to honour excellence in Tamil cinema.

The award show was started in 2006, and the first awards were presented in 2007. Many noted filmmakers, technicians as well as critics select the winners, while a separate Favourites category is reserved for popular achievements decided through public voting.

Table of Contents

• Details
• History
• Theme
• Registrations
• Celebrities
• Schedule
• Conclusion

Details

History

Vijay Awards was first conceived and announced in 2006, and the first show was held in 2007. In that year, no specific films or performances of the past year were awarded.

Instead, the show asked audiences to vote for their all-time favourite artists and films across 9 categories, which included:

• Favourite Hero
• Favourite Cinema
• Favourite Heroine
• Favourite Director
• Favourite Playback Singer (Male and Female)
• Favourite Music Director
• Favourite Comedian and Favourite Villain

The event also incorporated 10 jury awards.

The awards were won by Ajith Kumar (Hero), Trisha (Heroine), K.S Ravikumar (Director), A.R. Rahman (Music Director), Vivek (Comedian), Prakash Raj (Villain), S.P. Balasubrahmanyam (Playback singer male) and S Janaki (Playback singer female).

Starting from 2008, however, the show’s format was overhauled, and Vijay Awards nominated works of the previous years as well.

Further, most of the winners were selected by a committee, which included noted filmmakers, technicians and critics.

Meanwhile, five Favourite categories, including Favourite Hero, Favourite Heroine, Favourite Film Director, Favourite Film and Favourite Song, were reserved for public voting.

The jury awards included:

• Best Film
• Best Actress
• Best Actor
• Best Director
• Best Debut Actor
• Best Debut Actress
• Best Villain
• Best Comedian
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Editor
• Best Cinematographer
• Best Music Director
• Best Dialogue Writer
• Best Lyricist
• Best Story and Screenplay Writer
• Best Choreographer and Best Art Director etc.

Vijay Awards was a major hit in Tamil television. In 2013, the event brought Shah Rukh Khan as the guest of honour for its 7th edition.

There, he was presented with the Sivaji Ganesan Award for excellence in Indian cinema. Previously, the likes of Kamal Hassan, A.R. Rahman and Mani Ratnam had been awarded in this category.

However, soon after, the show began getting mired in controversy. In 2015, notably, actor Sivakarthikeyan and music composer and maestro Ilayaraaja left the show disappointed.

Sivakarthikeyan was particularly irked that year when he reportedly complained about poor management.

He reportedly accused the organisers of not providing even water to attendees despite the show’s long run-time and mockingly said attendees should bring their own food from the year after.

Further, he reportedly alleged that the show had used him for TRP all these years. He also walked out of the event before it ended.

Public interest in Vijay Awards also began waning around this time, and the show was eventually cancelled in 2018 after its 10th edition.

Some of the notable achievers of this event are actor Vijay, who has received nine Vijay Awards; Kamal Hassan, who has received 8; Dhanush, who has received 7 and Nayanthara, who has received 6.

Further, Dhanush received 23 nominations, making him the person with the most Vijay Awards nominations.

In films, Vaaranam Aayiram has received the most wins (7). Further, Thuppakki, Kadal and Dashavatharam follow Vaaranam Aayiram with 6 wins each.

Winners of the latest edition, i.e. 2018, include Vijay Sethupathi (Actor) for Vikram Vedha, A.R. Rahman (Music Director) for Kaatru Veliyidai, Dhanush (Entertainer of the Year) for Velaiilla Pattadhari 2, S.J. Surya (Villain) for Spyder and Soori (Comedian) for Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thodae.

Theme

Play

Vijay Awards was a regular award show with no specific themes. Each year, films and artists of the past year were nominated, from which a jury selected the winners.

Further, a specific Favourite category was reserved for the most popular works voted by audiences. Besides the award presentations, many popular stars and celebrities would also perform at various intervals.

Registrations

Nominations in the jury category are selected by the Vijay Awards committee from the works of the past year; hence, there is no separate registration process.

For the popular category, people could vote for their favourite films and artists through SMS and Vijay Awards’ online platform.

In earlier editions, a mobile van named “Rasigan Express” would visit popular cities in Tamil Nadu, such as Chennai, Trichy, Salem, Madurai, Coimbatore and Erode, over two weeks, and people could vote for their favourite works from the year before.

Nominations across categories would be made based on these votes, and the final round of voting for the winner would be carried out via their online platform and SMS voting.

Celebrities

• Kamal Hassan

Kamal Hassan is one of the most popular actors to have come out of the Tamil film industry. He has 8 Vijay Awards to his name.

He’s also appeared in several Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali films. Hassan is known for his versatility and superlative acting prowess. He’s regarded as a significant influence by many present actors.

He broke through as a lead actor in Apoorva Raagangal, a 1975 drama film in which he portrays a rebellious youth who fell in love with a woman much older than him.

His first National Film Award came for Moondram Pirai, where he plays a school teacher who looks after a woman with retrograde amnesia.

His other notable works include Swathi Muthyam, Indian, Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan, Hey Ram, Dashavatharam, Virumaandi, Vikram and Vishwaroopam.

For his filmography, Hassan has won two Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, four Nandi Awards, nine Tamil Nadu State Film Awards as well as a Rashtrapati Award.

Besides acting and directing, Hassan has also dabbled in philanthropy work and politics. He was awarded the Abraham Kovoor National Award in 2004 for philanthropy.

Hassan started his political party, People’s Justice Party, in 2018. He has also bagged the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.

• Dhanush

Dhanush, or Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja, is a renowned Tamil actor, director, producer, playback singer and lyricist who has won 7 Vijay Awards. He debuted with the 2002 coming-of-age film Thulluvadho IIamai, directed by his father, Kasthuri Raja.

Further success and praise came for him in the films Polladhavan and Yaardi Nee Mohini. Dhanush bagged his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil as well as National Film Award for Best Actor for playing a rooster fight jockey in Aadukaalam.

He made his Bollywood debut with Raanjhanaa by Anand L. Rai, in which he portrays a one-side lover; it won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.

He’s also starred in films like Asuran and Thiruchitrambalam, which is Dhanush’s highest-grossing film ever.

In music, in 2011, Dhanush’s song ‘Why This Kolaveri Di?’ became the first Indian music video to surpass 100 million views on YouTube.

Another of his song, ‘Rowdy Baby’, became the first South Indian music video to reach over 1 billion views on YouTube.

• Rajinikanth

Shivaji Rao Gaikwad, aka Rajinikanth, needs no introduction. Rajinikanth has featured in over 160 films over a career spanning more than five decades.

He’s also one of the most popular stars in the history of Indian cinema and has won the Favourite Hero category in Vijay Awards Rajinikanth debuted in 1975 with Kamal Hassan in Apoorva Raagangal.

His initial roles were mostly antagonistic; his first positive role was in Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri, which earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize.

Rajinikanth has delivered some of the biggest hits in Tamil films, including Chandramukhi. His unique boss style and peculiarities on-screen have also earned him a massive cult-like following.

He received Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 2000 and 2016 and bagged the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for contribution to Indian cinema in 2019.

Schedule

Vijay Awards was usually held between April and July, with most editions taking place in May and June. The first edition took place on 23 June 2007. 

Vijay Awards 10th and final edition was held in Chennai on 26 May 2018. It was cancelled following that due to past controversies and poor TRP ratings. 

Conclusion

Vijay Awards was one of the major award shows in the Tamil film industry.

Its initial years saw incredible success, owing to popular campaigns such as the popular award category, for which a two-week crowd-engaging minivan trip was organised.

However, inconsistency in programming and declining TRP ratings eventually led to the show getting cancelled.