Vijay Devarakonda is all set to conquer Tamil audiences. His tips to popularity?

Vijay Devarakonda takes the ‘rowdy’ lifestyle seriously. In a recent video he shared, the actor endorsed for the rebellious lifestyle and attitude. The lyrics as heard in this video read: “I am you, I am the Rowdy you”. And the actor asks people to raise their voice, stand up for themselves and ‘rise up’!

Vijay Devarakonda has been a Telugu sensation lately with three continuous super hits.

Currently, the actor is making his way into the Tamil world with NOTA. This film is a political thriller, revolving around the youngest chief minister in the history. During the promotional activities for NOTA, Vijay has won over hearts of young fans by sharing his true belief in politics. Indeed, the actor has taken his oath on stage as a chief minister. Besides, he also advised the young fans that they should never vote for money or just because of religion or caste.

Many have doubted the reason why Vijay has become so popular.

He does not come from a star family or having a godfather taking care of him in a complicated nepotistic world of film industry.  Some have reasoned that it is his attitude that has made Vijay stand out. He wears his heart on the sleeve, and he never shows any interest in being correct politically.

From the earlier days of his career, Vijay has overcome struggles of playing just supporting characters in low budget films. Now that he has become the inspiration for millions of young people, from the middle class of society. These young fans used to descend on Chennai, Hyderabad, or Mumbai. Now, thanks to Vijay, they have a dream of becoming successful in the movies.

In his debut film ‘Pelli Choopulu’ about matchmaking, Vijay played the hero.

This film was produced with a budget as big as Rs 1 crore. The film was released in July 2016, only one-week following ‘Kabali’ – the film that stars Rajinikanth. Amazingly, ‘Pelli Choopulu’ survived the storm, thanks to the work of mouth magic.

‘Pelli Choopulu’ is a great combination of the typical Telugu system of values, and dynamic subjects such as start-ups and empowerment for women. ‘Pelli Choopulu’ was awarded the best film at the National Film Awards, while also ranking in the moolah.

However, that was only the start of Vijay’s success. Later on with his second film – Arjun Reddy – in 2017, Vijay stole all spotlights. He got the whole Bollywood industry stop and stare at him with amazement because the film shows how much of a talent Vijay is.

In Arjun Reddy, the story revolves around the life of a surgeon who deals with alcoholic and anger management issues. And the last drop falls when his girlfriend got married to someone else, his life shattered. The surgeon went on to destroy himself. Arjun Reddy is a dark and touching story, because it tells both about the fall and the re-emergence of the character, from the depth of his own abyss.

At the present, Vijay has appeared in a supporting role in the romantic film ‘Mahanati and Geetha Govindam’. This comedy is quite popular with the audience who are attending their colleges.

It is also a significant mark when Vijay started his path into the film industry of Telugu.

So far, the actors of the past generation have lost their power to draw audiences to the cinema. Indeed, it has been almost ten years past, and the big names like Venkatesh, Balakrishna or Chiranjeevi, and Nagarjuna have less attraction than they used to.

At that time, Prabhas has not frequently been fixed on the screen, due to the Baahubali franchise. Audiences showed their love for Vijay because he was a great alternative. He does not act like the Tollywood star sons, he does not obey the common mannerisms. Most of all, he has his own acting style, not the too familiar block style. Indeed, Vijay Devarakonda was a fresh breeze, and audiences just loved him.

Vijay has been considered by the South cinema lovers as the ‘star of the future’, for his huge talents. At the same time, it seems that the public audience loves him even more for his struggles throughout the rise to fame, instead of privileges from a star family.

Vijay’s attitude does magic for his career in a very special way. After winning the best actor prize for his character in Arjun Reddy, Vijay basically auctioned his award. It was not just any award, but a Filmfare Award to be exact. With this auction, Vijay has made Rs 25 lakh and immediately donated the sum of money towards the Relief Fund created and run by the Telangana Chief Minister.

Another side of Vijay’s personality shows how warm-hearted and adorable this man is.

To celebrate his birthday last May, Vijay celebrated it big! He hired three ice cream trucks, going around Hyderabad, and giving out ice cream for free. Needless to say, his adorable action has melted hearts of the young generation. And by that, we see how he has become an endorser for his youth brand.

Being a responsible celebrity in the world of internet, Vijay has asked his fans to use social media wisely and positively.

In fact, the actor asks his young followers not to get into online wars with other fandoms or the critics who give his works a cold shoulder. Normally when the fans act aggressively or mean towards others on the internet, stars just let them be. Vijay did the opposite.

In fact, Vijay has made himself some new acquaintances, and many are not so surprised. Lately, he has become friends the IT Minister, and the son of K Chandrasekhar (Telangana chief minister). Hence, he has built somewhat strong and politically correct connections.

On the contrary, some may feel like his success could shatter if he moves into the Telugu industry too fast. There were cases like Uday Kiran who has also scored a hat-trick of super hits but did not actually stay famous for long. Luckily, up until now, Vijay Devarakonda has been choosing his scripts very smartly.

Language has never been a barrier for Vijay.

He does not speak Tamil but has spent a sufficient time to learn the language with correct pronunciations, in order to act in NOTA. This is a great example to prove that Vijay has set his sight on being approved further than just the Telangana – Andhra boundaries.

Another surprise is that NOTA will mark the change of Vijay into being a producer. This was too surprising that many can not help but raise a little doubt here and there. The actor is still at the earlier stage of his career, hence turning to become a producer would do some harm to his acting career. Yet again, the ‘Rowdy’ Vijay believes that NOTA will be a great launch pad for his production business because the film will be released everywhere in south India.

Spilling this secret, he said in Hyderabad that “Your rowdy is getting into production”. The crowd could see the screen flashing “The Rowdy’s New Beginning” as Vijay shared the name of his production house. A fun fact, this production house is named after his family name Devarakonda – “King of the Hill”.