Holding steady: At 58, Vikram has held his space despite the odd lows in an otherwise fine career. From a life-threatening bike accident prior to stepping into films, he has come a long way.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
In the early 1990s, 1992 to be precise, an Ilaiyaraaja number became this hummable song for many in Madras. Pudhu routeladhan had a lovely tonality and the visuals from the P.C. Sreeram-directed movie Meera were surreal. A road, a bus lit up with a soft hue and the accompanying warm song, remains a key part of Tamil pop culture.
More importantly, the hero of that film has lasted all these decades at the top, headlining big-budget films or being part of a high-voltage ensemble cast as in Ponniyin Selvan. Vikram has been around tinsel-town since then and his latest Veera Dheera Sooran is a hit. However, in the early days, Meera did not set the box-office on fire.
Jig for Allwyn Trendy
Back then, Vikram also used to do these modelling assignments and readers with a soft-corner for watches may remember him doing a jig for the Allwyn Trendy brand commercial on television. Those watches had inter-changeable straps and tapped into the youth demography. Vikram’s film career, however, did not take off immediately. Biding his time for the big opening in Tamil, he did the rounds in Malayalam and Telugu. Supporting roles provided sustenance while he still remained a cult figure in Loyola College as professors often referred to one of their favourite past students.
In Malayalam, Vikram was the loyal assistant to Mammootty in Dhruvam. The revenge drama, also starring Jayaram and Suresh Gopi, was a massive hit. Vikram did some more films across the Palghat Gap, besides foraying into Hyderabad. And then, Sethu happened in 1999.
Turning a star
The Bala-directed Tamil flick, slow to start with, gained strong word-of-mouth praise and became a hit. An actor and a star was born and Vikram finally found his celluloid roots. He did the serious performance-oriented roles as well as the commercial pot-boilers like Saamy.
He starred in the remake of the Malayalam hit Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum. If Kalabhavan Mani made the blind man’s role memorable in the original, Vikram held his own in the Tamil version. When Mani passed away, Vikram went to Kerala and made a heart-felt speech about the late actor, who earlier had played the villain against him in the hit Gemini. The ‘O Podu’ line from that film remains popular and even recently Vikram used that expression during one of his promotional rounds in Kerala, where fans look at him as one of their own. At 58, he has held his space despite the odd lows in an otherwise fine career. From a life-threatening bike accident prior to stepping into films, Vikram has come a long way.
Published – April 13, 2025 10:34 pm IST