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 and was lauded as one of the best political thrillers in Tamil cinema. Vijay, who is also the lead actor and background music scorer of the movie, has since been widely appreciated. His second project Uriyadi 2 released in April 2019 to positive critical reviews.

Early life

Vijay was born on 2 April 1987 in Chennai where he spent his schooling years. He then studied Metallurgical Engineering at the Government College of Engineering, Salem. 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.

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. He was selected and subsequently screened two short films on the show. Unfortunately, he had to leave it due to personal reasons. Vijay was a Project Lead in IBM when he quit his job to pursue his passion in filmmaking.
He moved to the United States in 2010 and began writing the script for Uriyadi in early 2011. It was initially titled . He spent well over a year on the script, sketching more than 2500 shots for its storyboard.

2013–present

Back in India, Vijay Kumar started his production house in April 2013. He conducted a three-month acting workshop for the actors as almost all of them were debutants.
Uriyadi was released in theaters on 27 May 2016. Upon its release, The Hindu had a chat with Vijay and cited that Uriyadi is "A throwback to the 90s". Subsequently, he shared his experience of working with the Uriyadi team with Ananda Vikatan magazine. and also with Manam magazine on why he chose caste politics subject for his first film.
In an exclusive interview with ', Vijay mentioned how he learnt how NOT to make a film through the two short films that he made. 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. G. Dhananjayan of ' 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.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

YearFilmAwardCategoryNotes
2016UriyadiAnanda Vikatan Cinema AwardsBest Debut Actor
2017UriyadiSIIMABest Debut Actor
2017UriyadiMost Watched film of a Debutant Filmmaker
2017UriyadiNorway Tamil Film Festival AwardsBest Production
2017Uriyadi:ta:தமிழ்நாடு முற்போக்கு எழுத்தாளர்கள் கலைஞர்கள் சங்கம்|Tamil Nadu Murpoku Ezhuthalar Kalaingargal Sangam Film AwardsSpecial Award for Production
2017Uriyadi:ta:தமிழ்நாடு முற்போக்கு எழுத்தாளர்கள் கலைஞர்கள் சங்கம்|Tamil Nadu Murpoku Ezhuthalar Kalaingargal Sangam Film AwardsSpecial Award for Writing and Direction
2017UriyadiBest Director
2017UriyadiSIIMABest Debut Director
2017UriyadiFilmibeat Tamil Cinema AwardBest Debut Director
2017UriyadiDirectionWall of Fame