Before ‘Jana Nayagan’: When an 18-year-old Vijay walked the halls of Loyola

As Jana Nayagan gears up for release this Thursday (July 23, 2026), perhaps the last in actor Vijay’s repertoire, as he is busy as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, let us leap back in time. The year 1992 was drawing to a close, and on December 2, Mr. Vijay’s maiden venture as a solo hero Naalaiya Theerpu was released.

As an 18-year-old pursuing B.Sc (Visual Communication) in Loyola College, this was Mr. Vijay’s moment to shed his previous child-artiste image and carve a fresh path. Many in the institution were aware that he was director S.A. Chandrasekhar’s son, and in a college with alumni like Vikram and Arvind Swamy, stardust and glitter seemed inevitable.

Naalaiya Theerpu, helmed by Mr. Chandrasekhar, did not set the box office on fire. Even as the audience response remained muted, Mr. Vijay was noticed, and he won the Best New Face Actor award from Cinema Express. At Loyola, where he walked into the canteen for a swig of cold drink, he had a close circle of fans-cum-fellow-students hanging around.

However, this was not a lad trying to exude charisma. Reticent and comfortable only with his inner group, Mr. Vijay tried to blend into the shadows. There was obviously some excitement in the ranks as a fellow college boy was stepping into celluloid, but at that point, he seemed immune to the buzz.

None back then would have imagined him becoming a massive star and eventually finding political validation too. Those were days when having an apple juice at the HPMC counter at Nungambakkam railway station or a chai at the bunk opposite the main entrance near Sterling Road were events by themselves.

It was also a time when actor Karthik had a large share of the youth market, and his huge following on campuses, seemed set in stone. In those days, the Tamil Nadu cinema market was split into A, B, and C centres, and a leading star had to find a base in all three segments ranging from the cities to the villages.

Just as Mr. Vijay continued his course, his movie aspirations gained a lifeline exactly a year later in 1993. His father, keen to gift a foothold to the son, directed Senthoorapandi, and cast one of his favourite actors Vijayakant alongside Mr. Vijay. The move worked, as the commercial aspect of the film gained heft, and the A, B, and C centres lapped up the content.

That was the moment when Mr. Vijay’s nascent stardom firmed up before he formed the duopoly with Ajith. Mr. Vijay quit Loyola, too, as his focus remained with Kollywood. Now, after more than three decades, and with a stardom that stretches far and wide, he will be seen on screen again through a film that had earlier found obstacles in the Censor Board, and had its pirated copies seeping into the digital space. 

It is time for Jana Nayagan, finally. That 18-year-old with a wispy moustache now sports a beard with flecks of grey, and also happens to be the Chief Minister of the State.