Yaman box office success has further cemented Vijay Antony's place at the top of Kollywood

Kollywood is one industry where successful technicians — mostly music directors — turn heroes. Vijay Antony, who started his career as a music director, is today, a popular action hero. Antony’s new release, the political thriller Yaman, has netted an impressive Rs 6.80 crore in its opening weekend in Tamil Nadu and is being liked by both critics and masses. Yaman marks Antony’s third consecutive hit; last year he had two notable releases in Pichaikkaran (a blockbuster) and Saithan (declared a hit). _Pichaikkaran’_s Telugu dubbed version Bichagadu was a mega blockbuster that collected more than its original Tamil version and created a new market for Vijay in Andhra. His first two films in the thriller genre as solo hero — Naan (2012) and its sequel Salim (2014) — too were super hits. He had only one failure so far, in India Pakistan (2015). [caption id=“attachment_3307154” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Vijay Antony in ‘Yaman’[/caption] Says S Pictures’ Srinivasan, a leading distributor and exhibitor, “Vijay Antony’s strike rate at the box office is very impressive, five out of his six films have been hits and Pichaikkaran is one of 2016’s highest collecting films and most profitable in terms of return on investment (ROI). Today he has an opening and if he continues to make commercial thrillers at a reasonable price, he is here to stay.” What makes Vijay Antony tick with the masses? He is soft-spoken and keeps a low profile. Starting his tryst with Kollywood as a music director, he has composed chartbusters for nearly 25 films. Who can forget the iconic Kuthu (folk) number ‘Naaka Mukka’ from Kadhalil Vizhunthen ? Vijay knew the pulse of the youth audiences and had churned a lot of peppy numbers. At one time he was there right at the top as a music director, but his interest was to make it big as a Tamil commercial mass hero. In fact the industry was shocked when one fine day he stopped composing music and switched to acting. Nobody gave him a remote chance to succeed, but today he is there among the top 10 saleable commercial stars in Kollywood! In a recent interview with The Hindu, Antony said: “I still don’t call myself an actor, leave alone a star. I’m a technician whose efforts go into hiding my limitations as an actor. I can’t shout, I can’t cry convincingly, and please don’t make me dance.” In short, the actor himself has confessed that he does not have the essential qualities that go into the making of a Tamil mass hero. He says he is trying to improve as an actor with each film. The trade feels Antony has a market of his own, as he is very particular about the content of his films. The characters he has chosen so far has shades of grey. His choice of ‘devilish’ titles has also created hype around his films. In Yaman too, he plays a Machiavellian politician, who plots the fall of the villains who are kingmakers in local politics. Antony told Firstpost, “For me, the most important thing is the story and presentation. I try to choose characters that are ordinary but put in a tough situation and to come out of it they have to use their brains and cunning. Just like people in real life. The evil that they do is a result of circumstance. And it has worked to my advantage. If I find the script exciting, I go ahead and do it.”