Vivek (actor)
Vivek | |
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Honorary Doctorate (2015) |
Vivekanandan (19 November 1961 – 17 April 2021), known professionally as Vivek,
In 2009, the
Biography
Early life
Vivek was born in the Perunkottur Village near
Early career (1987–1997)
While working at the Secretariat in Chennai, Vivek in his free-time participated at the Madras Humour Club where people would perform stand-up comedy. He helped pioneer the movement to expand and subsequently won the Best Entertainer Award several times during his pantomimes at the club. Vivek subsequently left Chennai and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in commerce from
Breakthrough and success (1998–2007)
In the late 1990s, Vivek was able to make a breakthrough by appearing as the lead comedian in films, who would often be the main friend of the lead actor and thus his on-screen time began to increase. He worked consecutively on successful films starring
Vivek worked on more commercially successful ventures in 2002 and 2003, receiving consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Comedian – Tamil and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedian for his work. His comedy track in Run won him multiple accolades, with a critic adding Vivek's "nods to current social events showed a stroke of brilliance".[citation needed] He played extended comedy roles in Vikram's Dhool and Priyadarshan's Lesa Lesa, while winning further acclaim for his portrayal of a teacher in Saamy and a software engineer in Parthiban Kanavu. He then played a marginally more serious role in S. Shankar's coming-of-age tale Boys, portraying a mentor to the group of youngsters, and his performance was well received. Critics noted that "Vivek, for a change, follows Shankar’s script and delivers with his impeccable sense of comic timing", while the reviewer from The Hindu said "the show belongs to Vivek, he's the mouthpiece for the director."[13][14] Success continued in 2004, where he retained the Filmfare Award for Best Comedian for his role of a marriage assembler in Perazhagan, while his roles in Chellamae and M. Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi helped contribute to the films' commercial success respectively.[15] His rising profile as an actor meant that he became the first comedian to become an ambassador for the soft drink, securing the sponsorship deal with Mirinda after the brand had carried out market surveys to find a popular promoter.[16][17] He also made a special exception to appear in a few artistic films and often charged significantly less remuneration for the ventures, notably playing character roles in Janaki Vishwanathan's Kutty (2001) and Thangar Bachan's Azhagi (2002).[18] In the later film, the director had requested Vivek to write and appear in a role himself, in order to use his fame to help the film find a distributor for release.[19]
A film which would feature Vivek in the leading role finally materialised in early 2004 and he completed a project titled Solli Addipean directed by newcomer Ramki. The team worked on the production of the film for close to a year and ensured that the audience would be able to accept the comedian's transformation into a lead role, with actresses
Vivek returned by portraying a well-received supporting role in Shankar's
Later work (2008–2021)
In the late 2000s, Vivek's market reach began to falter as a result of changes in screenplay in Tamil cinema, which saw fewer films adopting a separate comedy track. Moreover, the lack of big budget films signed by the actor and the emergence of
After that Vivek appeared in
Filmography
Personal life
Vivek married Arulselvi, with whom he had three children: Amritha Nandini, Tejaswini and Prasanna Kumar. Prasanna Kumar died in 2015, aged 13, due to complications arising from dengue fever and brain fever.[37] His friend Cell Murugan was his frequent co star.[38]
Death and state funeral
On 16 April 2021, Vivek experienced breathlessness and chest pain and was admitted to a SIMS Hospital in Chennai after falling unconscious at home. Doctors deemed him critical and discovered that he had a
Honorary street name
The Greater Chennai Corporation has renamed the street where Vivek lived as "Chinna Kalaivanar Vivek Road."[46]
Social activism
Green Kalam
In 2010, Vivek launched Green Kalam, a project to plant trees across India inspired by former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.[47] Through Twitter, he mobilized volunteers, particularly from schools and colleges, to join the initiative. Kalam insisted the project should not be named after him, after which Vivek briefly changed its name to Green Globe.[48] As of his death, over 3,300,000 saplings had been planted.[49]
Other initiatives
Vivek, along with actors Suriya, Jyothika and Karthi, had been appointed an ambassador for the Plastic Pollution Free Tamil Nadu campaign by the state's government under the leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in 2018.[50][51]
Brand endorsement
He was the brand ambassador of Mirinda soft drinks in 2003 and Nathella Jewellery in 2011.[52][53][16][54]
Awards and honors
Year | Event | Category/Award | Movie | Result | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Sathyabama University | Honorary Doctorate | [55] | ||
2009 | Civilian honor | Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian Cinema | [56] | ||
2006 | Tamil Nadu State Film Honorary Award | Kalaivanar Award for his contributions to Tamil Cinema | [57] | ||
2002 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Comedian – Tamil | Run | Won | [57] |
2003 | Saamy | [57] | |||
2004 | Perazhagan | [57] | |||
1999 | Tamil Nadu State film Awards | Best Comedian | Unnaruge Naan Irundhal | [58] | |
2002 | Run | [58] | |||
2003 | Parthiban Kanavu | [58] | |||
2005 | Anniyan | [58] | |||
2007 | Sivaji: The Boss | [58] | |||
2003 | International Tamil Film Award | Best Comedian | Run | [59] | |
2004 | Saamy | [60] | |||
2008 | Kuruvi | [61] | |||
2011 | Vedi | [61] | |||
2009 | Asianet Film Awards | Honour Special Jury Award | [citation needed] | ||
Asianet Film Award for Best Comedian | Various Films | [citation needed] | |||
2007 | Edison Awards | Best Comedian | Guru En Aalu | [58] | |
2021 | South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Comedian - Tamil
|
Dharala Prabhu | [58] |
References
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External links
- Vivek at IMDb
- Vivek at Rotten Tomatoes
- Vivek on Twitter