Vijay Kumar (Tamil filmmaker)

Vijay Kumar is an Indian film actor, writer, director, lyricist and producer. His directorial debut, Uriyadi, a political thriller set in the 1990s, was released in 2016 to high critical acclaim[1][2][3] and was lauded as one of the best political thrillers in Tamil cinema.[4][5] Vijay, who is also the lead actor and background music scorer of the movie,[6] has since been widely appreciated. His second project Uriyadi 2 released in April 2019 to positive critical reviews.

Not to be confused with Vijay Kumar (British filmmaker).

Vijay Kumar
விஜய் குமார்
Born2 April 1987
Chennai
NationalityIndian
Alma materGovernment College of Engineering, Salem
Occupation
Years active2013-present

Early life

Vijay was born on 2 April 1987 in Chennai where he spent his schooling years.[7] He then studied Metallurgical Engineering at the Government College of Engineering, Salem.[8] A software engineer by profession, he quit his decade-long career in reputed companies like IBM, Infosys, Aditi Technologies, etc., to pursue his passion in cinema.[9]

Film career

2009–2013: Career beginnings

Working as a Software Engineer in Chennai, Vijay Kumar found himself spending all his spare time watching and analyzing movies. Filmmaking piqued his interest and he decided to try his hand at it. He made a short film and applied to the Nalaya Iyakunar show in 2009, when it was in its first season.[9][7] He was selected and subsequently screened two short films on the show. Unfortunately, he had to leave it due to personal reasons.[7] Vijay was a Project Lead in IBM when he quit his job to pursue his passion in filmmaking.[9]

He moved to the United States in 2010 and began writing the script for Uriyadi in early 2011. It was initially titled Vidiyum Varai VinmeengalaaVom (V4). He spent well over a year on the script, sketching more than 2500 shots for its storyboard.[10]

2013–present

Back in India, Vijay Kumar started his production house Souvenir Productions in April 2013.[11] He conducted a three-month acting workshop for the actors as almost all of them were debutants.[10][11]

Uriyadi was released in theaters on 27 May 2016.[12] Upon its release, The Hindu had a chat with Vijay and cited that Uriyadi is "A throwback to the 90s".[13] Subsequently, he shared his experience of working with the Uriyadi team with Ananda Vikatan magazine.[14] and also with Manam magazine on why he chose caste politics subject for his first film.[15]

In an exclusive interview with Behindwoods, Vijay mentioned how he learnt how NOT to make a film through the two short films that he made.[16] In another exclusive interview with Indiaglitz, he revealed that the entire footage of Uriyadi was lost during the super storm that flooded his first floor office in Jafferkhanpet on 1 December 2015.[17] G. Dhananjayan of BOFTA arranged for an interaction session between Vijay and the Direction students of the institute, where the former shared his experience in making an independent film and achieving his goal.[18]

Filmography
Year Film Credited as Notes
Writer Director Actor Producer Background Music
2016UriyadiYYYYY
2019Uriyadi 2YYYNN
2020Soorarai PottruYNNNNDialogues only

Awards and nominations
Year Film Award Category Notes
2016 Uriyadi Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards[19] Best Debut Actor Won
2017 SIIMA[20] Best Debut Actor Nominated
Tentkotta Awards[21] Most Watched film of a Debutant Filmmaker Won
Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards[22] Best Production Won
Tamil Nadu Murpoku Ezhuthalar Kalaingargal Sangam Film Awards[23][24] Special Award for Production Won
Special Award for Writing and Direction Won
Radio Mirchi Madurai Awards[25] Best Director Won
SIIMA[20] Best Debut Director Nominated
Filmibeat Tamil Cinema Award[26] Best Debut Director Won
Behindwoods Gold Medals[27] Direction Wall of Fame
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gollark: That kind of makes sense. Is there a way around that other than pcalling it?
gollark: Well, it's better than potatOS's current sandbox... probably.
gollark: `setfenv cannot change environment of given object` - what?
gollark: The best thing about ROT13 is that it can scale easily to advancing hardware.

References
  1. Rangan, Baradwaj (28 May 2016). "Uriyadi review: A gritty little film by a solid filmmaker". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  2. "Uriyadi Movie review". Times of India. 28 May 2016.
  3. "Uriyadi Review: An unmissable masterpiece that deserves our support!". Fullyfilmy.in. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  4. "Uriyadi director Vijay Kumar spills the beans on his next". Hindustan Times. 8 March 2017.
  5. "Vijay Kumar stuns audience by his performance in Uriyadi". Awesome Machi. 31 July 2017.
  6. "Uriyadi Vijay Kumar exclusive interview transcript". Indiaglitz. 19 July 2016.
  7. "Uriyadi movie director and technicians interview". Ananda Vikatan. 15 June 2016.
  8. "About Vijay Kumar". Facebook.
  9. "Uriyadi director Vijay Kumar interview". Behindwoods. 2 June 2016.
  10. "More than 2000 shots created for story board". The Times of India. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  11. "Team Uriyadi opens up about the movie". Herotalkies. 16 June 2016.
  12. Uriyadi IMDb
  13. "The Hindu Interview". The Hindu. 28 May 2016.
  14. "Experience of working with Uriyadi team". Ananda Vikatan. 8 June 2016.
  15. "Caste politics subject for his first film". Manam Magazine. 30 June 2016.
  16. "Behindwoods Interview". Behindwoods. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  17. "Uriyadi Filmmaker Vijay thanks Torrent & Thiruttu VCD". Indiaglitz. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  18. "BOFTA". youtube.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  19. "Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards of 2016". Ananda Vikatan. 28 December 2016.
  20. "Nominations list for the SIIMA 2017 announced!". Sify.com.
  21. "Tentkotta Awards". Tentkotta. 28 April 2017.
  22. "Norway Tamil Film Festival: Complete list of winners". Times of India. 7 March 2017.
  23. "Uriyadi gets a new recognition from Tamil literary world". NDTV Tamil. 1 September 2017.
  24. "Visaranai, Joker, Uriyadi get valuable recognition". Indiaglitz Tamil. 4 September 2017.
  25. Radio Mirchi Madurai Awards
  26. "Filmibeat Tamil Cinema Awards of 2016". Filmibeat. 13 January 2017.
  27. "Behindwoods Gold Medals Wall of Fame". Behindwoods. 12 April 2017.
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