With Vijay’s Pongal release Varisu not too far away, the Kollywood star met with members of his fans association Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam on Sunday, November 20, at the Panaiyur office in Chennai. On the occasion, the actor advised his fans to take care of their families first before indulging in social work. The association is known for carrying out various social and relief work in the actor’s name across Tamil Nadu.
Reports say that entry to the event was strictly regulated to only card-holding association members. The actor appears to have arrived at the event location sometime in the afternoon, though the excitement ran high from the morning, with photos of biriyani being cooked at the venue circulating on social media. Videos show fans greeting Vijay with huge enthusiasm when the star eventually reached the Pannaiyur location. This is the first time the star is participating in a formal meeting of fans association members in five years, but he did meet and congratulate a member who won the rural local body elections last year.
The fans association had made news in October 2021, after members won 129 rural local body seats out of 169 in nine reconstituted districts. The surprise win at Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Kallakurichi, Villupuram, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Tenkasi, and Tirunelveli local body elections led to widespread speculations around Vijay entering politics, but it isn’t clear if the actor has any immediate plans of doing so. However, the fans association members who competed in urban body elections this year do not seem to have done similarly well.
Further adding to speculation at the time was the dissolution of the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI), which was started by the actor’s father and film director SA Chandrasekar. Vijay had publicly distanced himself from VMI during its inception and discouraged fans from having any association with the organisation. In September last year, the actor filed a civil suit against Chandrasekar and mother Shoba Sekar, seeking to restrain VMI from using his images and name for meetings. This finally led to the dissolution of the organisation on September 27.
More recently, his upcoming Varisu ran into controversy over its release in Telugu states. The Telugu Producers Council is of the opinion that festive releases in Andhra and Telangana must prioritise straight Telugu films over dubbed ones, including Varisu which is entitled Vaarasudu in Telugu. Pongal in Tamil Nadu coincides with Sankranthi in other parts of the country including in the Telugu states, with Tollywood gearing up for two big releases of their own — Balayya’s Veera Simha Reddy and Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya. The statement from the Telugu Producers Council has led to a furore among fans in Tamil Nadu.
Varisu is incidentally helmed by Telugu director Vamsi Paidipally, and bankrolled by Dil Raju and Shirish under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations.