Duniya Vijay

Duniya Vijay
Duniya Vijay
Born	Vijay Kumar B. R. (1974-01-20) 20 January 1974 Anekal, Karnataka, India
Other names	Viji Black Cobra Kari Chirathe Duniya Vijay
Occupation	Actor, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	2004–present
Net worth	₹151 crore (US$21 million)
Spouse(s)	Nagarathna Vijay Kumar (m. 1999) Keethi gowda (m. 2015) [1]
Children	3
Awards	Karnataka State Award Suvarna Film Award Filmfare Award Udaya Film Award

Vijay Kumar, known professionally as Duniya Vijay, is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. He started off as a junior film artist in the industry playing small roles, before he got his big break in Duniya (2007).^[2] He is noted for his performances in films such as Chanda (2007), Junglee (2009), Johny Mera Naam Preethi Mera Kaam (2011) and Jayammana Maga (2013). Vijay's net worth was ₹151 crore (US$21 million) according to the Forbes list in 2018.

Career

Vijay started off with a role in Yograj Bhat's Ranga SSLC with Sudeep. He then acted in films like Jogi, Shree and Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla. He also did roles in television.

The turning point in Vijay's career came when his friend Soori's directorial debut Duniya. Vijay was cast as a naive village boy with a golden heart who ends up in the hands of underworld goons who use him as one of the henchman to execute their bad deeds. His acting won him rave reviews from critics. Vijay went on to win the State and Filmfare awards for his role in the film.

In 2007, Vijay appeared in three more films – Yuga, Chanda and Geleya. Yuga was an action-oriented film on the lines of Duniya, but it was not a box office success. Vijay did a supporting role in Geleya, when Prakash Rai^[3] walked out of the film at the last moment.

In 2007, Vijay made more news with his film Chanda. The film was directed by S. Narayan, who had supposedly agreed with Vijay that he would release the film six weeks after Yuga, so that there would be no clash. The director did not keep this promise, for which Vijay refused to dub (lend his voice) for the film. The matter was settled with the KFCC, who decided to impose a year-long ban on the actor. After the intervention of "Karnataka Film Federation" elders, the ban was revoked and Vijay was eligible to do other movies. Chanda did a roaring business at the box office and especially at B&C centres. He got the liking from the so-called 'masses' for his dare devil fights.

Vijay did a semi-art film Avva for Kavita Lankesh at the start of 2008. Vijay won accolades for a bravura performance, but the film did not do well. He was then seen in Sumana Kittur's Slum Bala towards the end of 2008, which also did average business. The consensus was that both films lacked action, which was Vijay's forte.

In 2009, Vijay was seen in action oriented films, namely, MR Ramesh's Thaakath and Junglee directed by Soori and also in Sadhu Kokila's Devru.

The year 2010 continued to be a mixed luck for Vijay with three releases, out of which, one film Kanteerava managed to fetch average business and reviews. The other two, Shankar IPS and Kari Chirathe, went on to become failures at the box-office. However, he made a comeback with successful films which were also critically acclaimed Jarasandha, Johny Mera Naam Preethi Mera Kaam and Veerabahu in the year 2011.

In 2012, Vijay starred in the critically acclaimed Bheema Theeradalli which also found the commercial success. Vijay was lauded for his performance in the movie. In early 2013, the film Rajanikantha was released and it was a disaster in Box-Office. His subsequent release, which was under his production "Duniya Talkies" Jayammana Maga, a psychological thriller and his first production venture, met with rave critical reviews with his performance getting noticed. While his movie Shivajinagar was average at box office. In 2014, his only movie was Simhadri. In 2015 he went with four movies Jackson, Rx Suri, Ring road were hit, however Cobra is delayed.

In 2016, his first release was Yogaraj Bhat's much hyped film Dana Kayonu alongside Priyamani. The film went on to become a success commercially and resurrected his career. His upcoming release is Nagashekar's Masti Gudi.

Controversies

On 6 November 2016, while filming the climax fight scene for the upcoming Masti Gudi film, two stuntmen playing villainous roles: Anil and Uday along with Vijay jumped into the Thippagondanahalli reservoir from a helicopter. While the two stuntmen drowned, Vijay was rescued by the film crew.^[4] Following this incident, the Karnataka Film Commerce Chamber (KFCC) imposed a ban on Vijay, director Nagashekar and stunt choreographer Ravi Varma until further notice.^[5] In April 2017, police filed criminal charges against several members of the production crew, but did not file charges against Vijay.^[6]

On September 24, 2018, Vijay was arrested after he was alleged to have assaulted his friend Kitty's nephew, Maruthi, a gym trainer.^[7]

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	Ranga SSLC
2004	Jogi
2005	Rishi
2005	Deadly Soma
2005	Giri
2005	Rakshasa
2005	Mental Manja
2006	Shree
2006	Ambi
2007	Sri Kshethra Kaivara Thathayya		Cameo appearance
2007	Guna		Cameo appearance
2007	Duniya	Shivalingu	Filmfare Award for Best Actor Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor
2007	Yuga	Yuga
2007	Geleya	ACP
2007	Chanda	Kariya
2007	Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla	Himself
2008	Avva	Bedara Manja
2008	Slum Bala	Bala
2009	Junglee	Prabhakar
2009	Thaakath	Basya
2009	Devru	Devru
2010	Shankar IPS	Shankar Prasad
2010	Kari Chirathe	Madesh
2010	Kanteerava	Kanteerava
2010	Aithalakkadi	Himself	Guest appearance
2011	Veera Bahu	Veerabahu
2011	Johny Mera Naam Preethi Mera Kaam	Johnny
2011	Jarasandha	Krishna Murthy "Jarasandha"
2012	Bheema Theeradalli	Chandya
2012	Rajanikantha	Rajani / Kantha
2013	Jayammana Maga	Naga
2013	Shivajinagara	Ramu
2014	Simhadri	Simhadri
2015	Jackson	Jackson
2015	RX Soori	Soori
2015	Daksha
2015	Ring Road	Himself
2016	Dana Kayonu	Kempu / Docomo
2017	Masti Gudi	Maasthi
2018	Kanaka	Kanaka
2018	Johnny Johnny Yes Papa	Johnny	Released
TBA	Kusthi		Pre-production
TBA	Cobra		Delayed

References

External links

• Duniya attracts Vijay too
• An interview with Vijay in Thats Kannada
• Interview with Vijay in The Hindu