vijay 1996-2003 vijay history

1996–03

His next film was the Vikraman-directed Poove Unakkaga which was his first commercial success and made Vijay a recognizable star. Vijay's tenth film Vasantha Vasal was followed by the action flicks Maanbumigu Maanavan and Selva and the romantic film Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen. In 1997 Vijay acted in the commercially successful movies Love Today,Once More, where he co-starred with the legendary Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan and leading actress Simran, the Mani Ratnam-produced Nerukku Ner, directed by Vasanth, where he co-starred with another leading actor Suriya who made his debut in that film and the romantic drama Kadhalukku Mariyadhai,co-starring Shalini Kumar which was directed by Fazil and earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. In 1998, Vijay worked in romantic films Ninaithen Vandhai, Priyamudan which was his first negative role, and Nilaave Vaa. In 1999 Vijay acted in the successful Thulladha Manamum Thullum again with Simran. This was followed by Endrendrum Kadhal, Nenjinile and the K.S.Ravikumar directed Minsara Kanna.
From the start of the new millennium Vijay began to commit to entertaining and commercial ventures, which marked a change in his trend. In 2000 he did Kannukkul Nilavu with Fazil. His next venture Kushi, a romantic comedy co-starring Jyothika was directed by S. J. Suryah and became a box office hit. At the end of the year, he acted in a romantic drama, Priyamanavale, which was also a box office hit. His 2001 romantic comedy film Friends was directed by Siddique and featured him in the leading role alongside Suriya again, this film topped the years box office and became a blockbuster. Followed by Badri an action–drama film which was the remake of the Telugu film Thammudu a super hit and Shahjahan, a romantic drama film which was moderately successful at the box office. In 2002, he starred in Thamizhan alongside Priyanka Chopra who made her acting debut in that film before her establishment as the leading Bollywood actress. The film was a box office hit, giving Vijay his only hit film of the that time. Later, he featured in the romantic drama Youth and action drama Bagavathi there by rounded off the year with 1 hit and 2 average successes. Vijay began 2003 with the films Vaseegara and Pudhiya Geethai, both failures at the box office.