Kenny To Chiyaan
This show was a master piece from Vijay TV. They already do an awesome job with the show "Sigaram Thotta Manidhargal", and they did with Vikram here and named this episode "Kenny To Chiyaan". However this is not an interview but has dialogs with everyone other than Vikram.
Biographies are rare in Indian TV and movies. We associate more with Movie personalities and while most of the interviews laud the hero in front of them, Vijay TV does things differently. They picked the right guy in Vikram. While I knew that Vikram had a though life before Sethu and how hard he worked for Sethu, I didn't know rest of the story which this show presented.
I am so used the interviews of movie stars in Doordarshan and later in SUN and Raj and other channels, when I first saw Vikram in Koffee with Anu, I was impressed with the show. It was not your regular interview where the movie personalities were lauded about their performances in specific movies which were singled out, they were appreciated but it was more about them and what they thought and felt and who they were. One show of Koffee with Anu and you can make out who the underlying person is behind the star.
I start talking about Vikram here because thats how I started observing him. The show was fun where Anu didn't have to work hard while Vikram entertained and pulled the leg of both Anu and the other guest Silambarasan. He was serious, but a joke was there around the corner all the time, importantly he wasn't obnoxious, which some of the famous people could be. He was confident of himself and comfortable about himself and the people around him.
I came out of the show being a fan of Vikram, for his personality. It was like another SPB whom I admire a lot for his personality.
Then I got to watch Vikram spending a day with the finalists of the Super Singer. This was another facet of him where there were people around who are not that famous, not stars, but upcoming youngsters. The result was same, Vikram was the same guy who made everyone around him comfortable and didn't have fun at others expense.
I was never a fan of Sethu for I had watched it in a tape which was not so good in terms of quality. I knew he was a terrific actor and I liked his Samy, Dhool etc for the pure energy he brought. It infact is the same energy he brought in all his shows.
The show Kenny to Chiyaan didn't show Vikram other than his photos from when he was young. It was a serious of interviews from his hostel warden to his parents and friends. The story of Vikram goes thus:
Vikram was the eldest son of 3. He was sent to a hostel when he was about 12. The reasons were not clear and his mom and dad were interviewed in different surroundings which didn't tell much about them. But Vikram was left in the hostel and his mom on the way back becoming very sad decides to turn around to come see how he was doing. They drove back and saw him watching the other kids play from a distance. He seemed sad to her. His mom went and hugged him there against the wishes of others and Kenny didn't say much.
A few days later she got a letter from Kenny stating that he likes the place and he likes the flowers and the surroundings. He spent his time doing everything under the sun from playing sports to learning various musical instruments. There were quiet a few stories from his teachers etc. about his participating in the first play and few more.
Move forward to Kenny's college days. On a fateful day Kenny is on bike sitting in the back seat with his friend when they meet with the accident. The doctors are thinking that they might have to remove Kenny's right leg. His mom comes and thinks it wasn't too bad of an injury and tells him that it would become ok, which according to her, might have given him some courage. Evidently they find out that there is blood flow to the leg which is the only reason they decide to not remove it. It supposedly was a tough decision for the doctors. For the next year and half he remains bed ridden. His college lecturer was telling how they used to sneak in through the bathroom to see him as visitors were not allowed and the staff used to be appalled that its not just the students but staff as well who did this. There were interviews of lot of the hospital staff who all had stories about Kenny's stay.
Kenny starts his own therapy walking with a stick after year and a half and he takes a part time job. It takes him another 6 months to a year to walk without support. When he begins to walk he starts taking dance lessons to become an actor.
His first movie never came out, but his official debut was Sridhar's movie ( forgot the name ) which is when he became Vikram. He had two other movies release at the same time ( one being Meera ), all of them flop. Then comes his struggle until he makes Sethu. In this period Vikram does lot of Telugu movies in small roles but decides never to do a Tamil movie as a second fiddle. He is determined that if he will do a Tamil movie, it will be as the main character. The one role he did do in between was parthiban's housefull and parthiban had good things to say about vikram.
Evidently Bala was the assistant director in his first movie which had got shelved. 2 years in making, the movie didn't have an area sell. This supposedly was the lowest point of his life when he had lots of personal and emotion issues.
The movie came out, 3 weeks, no one came to the theatres and it was about to be taken off when the crowds came in. And vikram becomes Chiyaan, the darling of the masses. I have often wondered before this show when people say that Vijay is their thalaivan or its ajith, and why not many term Vikram as a great star. Isn't he by far the best of this younger lot?
I wish Vikram great future, something he has earned with hardwork and determination.
posted by Veer @ 1/02/2007 03:04:00 PM
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