How did Vijay Deverakonda happen to Tollywood?
Vijay Devarakonda is someone who can hog the limelight for one or the other thing, at any given point. It would be befitting to call him as the poster boy of TFI, for the kind of stardom he is celebrating. Be it his movie teasers or trailers, or promotional activities, or his rendezvous with his fan frenzy, he strikes a chord with the audience and fans in particular. Needless to say, he is in a different league of stardom post the success of Arjun Reddy. How judicious is it to accredit his stardom to Arjun Reddy is a debatable thing, but one cannot deny it is the sensation that put him on a pedestal, raising a platform for the mania and euphoria he is enjoying now. As the saying goes ‘Use the opportunity when it knocks the door’, Vijay Devarakonda proved his mettle in the early stint of his career, when the right movies came to him. If Pelli Choopulu was a visiting card for the actor to the TFI, Arjun Reddy happened to be the deal.
He is not attempting to follow the beaten path of success and try to offer variety in the small spectrum of things, he is into for now. He takes the failures in his own stride as he is self-aware of his abilities and the competition prevailing.
We know the star only as someone who debuted with the movie Pelli Choopulu and rose to stardom with Arjun Reddy, and it is little known how this star surfaced on the floor and entered the celluloid.
Vijay Devarakonda, smitten by the movie bug, like many aspiring actors, developed an interest in movies in his adolescent years and dreamt of carving a niche for himself in TFI. So, he has joined the theatre in 2011 while he was doing graduation. There he got associated with Ingenium Dramatics (theatre companies). While working there, he lost weight, learned dance, and honed his skills to become an actor. Although Vijayendra Prasad wanted to cast him in a movie, after being impressed with his performance in a play. However, the project did not materialize for unknown reasons.
After Vijay assisted director Teja for six months, he managed to bag an offer from Shekhar Kammula’s coming of the age movie Life Is Beautiful when he was scouting for fresh faces to cast for his movie. Vijay was discovered through auditions by Shekhar Kammula. He did a small role in the movie where he met Nag Ashwin, the assistant director of the movie. Vijay kept in touch and as a result, his initial break came in the form of Yevade Subramanyam when producers Swapna and Priyanka Dutt offered him a role in the movie.
For his performance in Yevade Subramanyam, director Tarun Bhaskar offered him a role in the movie Pelli Choopulu, which has an ensemble of new faces again. The movie became a sleeper hit fetching first commercial success for Vijay as a lead actor.
After Sharwanand losing a chance to do the movie, Sandeep Reddy Vanga signed Vijay Deverakonda to play Arjun Reddy, which was partly his own story. This happened even before the release of Pelli Chooopulu.
Arjun Reddy ended up as a path-breaking movie ushering in a change in the scripts. The movie received many accolades for the direction and heaped praises for Vijay’s acting. It also got him the first film fare award.
Perhaps the success of the movie has shouldered responsibility on Vijay, he is nitpicky about his roles and movies and taking a lot of care to ensure that the actor is not dismissed as a one-film wonder and likely to stay here for more years. Vijay has no qualms in doing supporting roles and cameos provided they do not pose a threat to the actor’s image.
Wishing Vijay a very happy birthday and a long career streak.
