Renowned Tamil actor and politician Vijayakanth passed away on 28th January 2023 at a private hospital in Chennai. Vijayakanth had been undergoing treatment for the past few years complaining of health ailment.
Vijaykanth was affectionately called ‘Captain’ since then his movie ‘Captain Prabhakaran’ was released in 1991. Vijaykanth had served as the President of South Indian Film Artistes Association(SIAA) and had created a record of clearing the debts of SIAA by organising events with the participation of leading actors of that day.
In 2005, Vijayakanth floated the new political party ‘Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam'(DMDK). He contested in the Legislative elections of 2006 & 2011 and won in both the elections as Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. Between the period of 2011 and 2016, Vijayakanth served as the Opposition Leader of the Tamil Nadu State Legislative Assembly.
The mortal remains of Vijayakanth was kept for public homage at his residence in Virugambakkam. Due to the crowding of his fans, party members and public, his corpse was shifted to their DMDK Party office at Koyambedu. Since the party office was also not able to occupy the crowd for paying homage, Vijaykanth’s corpse was again shifted to Island Grounds in Chennai yesterday(29th December 2023) for public homage. Yesterday in the late evening the mortal remains of Vijayakanth were buried at the DMDK Party office in Koyambedu.
Many celebrities including Rajinikanth, Kamalhassan and politicians including M.K.Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and many others paid homage to Vijayakanth. Tamil Nadu government led by M.K.Stalin honoured Vijayakanth’s funeral with a gun salute of 72 rounds.
Office bearers of ‘Tamil Movie Journalists Association’ paid homage to Vijayakanth at Island Grounds. The office bearers of TMJA after paying homage addressed the media and had prayed a request to the Government of Tamil Nadu. The requests are as mentioned below:
1. The main road near Vijayakanth’s residence to be renamed as ‘Captain Vijayakanth Road’ or ‘Puratchi Kalaignar Vijayakanth Road’.
2. The Tamil Nadu Government to consider issuing a Film Award in the name of ‘Captain Vijayakanth’ or ‘Puratchi Kalaignar Vijayakanth’.
3. A full sized statue of Vijayakanth to be erected in a popular public place in or around Madurai the hometown district of Vijayakanth.
Sources say that the office bearers of TMJA would be suilbmitting a seperate letter to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu praying the above requests in it.