Actor-Politician Vijayakanth Laid To Rest, Thousands Pay Last Respects

Actor-politician Vijayakanth was laid to rest in Chennai with full state honours on Friday as thousands of his fans and followers paid their last respects. He died aged 71 on Thursday after a prolonged illness.

People walked for more than ten kilometres as Vijayakanth's coffin moved from the Island Grounds in Chennai to the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) headquarters, where he was laid to rest in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his cabinet ministers.

"After MGR (MG Ramachandran), he was the only actor who took up issues like corruption, and that struck a chord with masses," Karthik, a fan from Vijayakanth's hometown Madurai district, told NDTV.

Several other fans also reflected on the actor's philanthropy and humane gestures.

Some fans also recalled how Vijayakanth, fondly called "Captain", never let anyone visiting him go hungry and how ensured the same meal for everyone on the film sets, breaking the culture of special meals for the stars alone.

Many fans later became his followers after he made his political plunge in 2001.

Vijayakanth then went on to win the assembly elections in 2006, a year that turned out to be a game-changer for his party -- DMDK -- which won 29 seats in the 234-member house in alliance with AIADMK.

However, he fell out with AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, which marked the beginning of the fall of his political fortunes as he shook hands with the BJP and a few other smaller parties floating a third front for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

His health then gradually deteriorated and the DMDK was not able to reclaim the lost ground.

Recently, the DMDK appointed his wife Premlatha as its chief, who now has the challenge to revive the party's fortunes ahead of the 2024 General elections.