• Founder-leader of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and popular yesteryear Tamil actor Vijayakanth passed away in Chennai on December 28. He was 71.

• Vijayakanth was popularly known as ‘Captain’ after he performed the role of an IFS officer in the 1991 blockbuster Tamil movie ‘Captain Prabhakaran’.

• Born in Madurai as Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami on August 25, 1952, Vijayakanth debuted in Kollywood with Inikkum Ilamai in 1979. With ‘Doorathu Idi Muzhakkam’ in 1980 and ‘Sattam Oru Iruttarai’ in 1981, he managed to make a mark in the Tamil movie industry.

• He earned the moniker of ‘Puratchi Kalaignar’ (revolutionary artist) after he symbolised on-screen the young generation’s thirst for justice in movies like ‘Sattam Oru Iruttarai’ and ‘Sivappu Malli’, notable among his early successes.

• A string of super hit films, including ‘Oomai Vizhigal’, ‘Pulan Visaranai’, ‘Chatriyan’, ‘Chinna Gounder’, ‘Honest Raj’, ‘Vanathai Pola’ made him a star in the industry, parallel to Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

• The acclaimed actor had a huge fan following, which he organised well into a structural unit and that stood him in good stead when he took the political plunge.

• Respected as a philanthropist and hailed by the Tamil film world and fans alike for over two decades (since the 1980s) as ‘the macho actor’ and real life saviour, that impressive on and off-screen charisma appeared to translate well electorally too.

• The 2002 movie ‘Ramanaa’, in which he spoke strongly against corruption, raised the expectations among his fans that he would take the political plunge.

• Vijayakanth launched DMDK in 2005 in Madurai as an alternative to both Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

• Within a year of its founding, the Vijayakanth-led party garnered about 8.40 per cent votes in the 2006 Assembly election, though only Vijayakanth managed to win. His maiden win from Virudhachalam in northern Tamil Nadu, where the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) wielded considerable influence, was seen as a positive sign of his mass appeal.

• His run-in with the PMK, which opposed the entry of actors into politics helped him strengthen his political standing. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the actor- turned-politician's party had a little over 10 per cent vote share.

• His party allied with the AIADMK in the 2011 Assembly elections.

• The Jayalalithaa-led bloc won the polls and the DMDK founder went on to become the Leader of the Opposition (2011-16) by winning from the Rishivandiyam constituency in northern TN.

• In 2011, the DMDK won 29 Assembly segments after contesting 41 seats (nearly eight per cent vote share) and emerged as the second largest party.

• Though an ally, he questioned the powers-that-be and his verbal duel with Jayalalithaa in the Assembly took the state by storm.

• After the AIADMK-DMDK alliance soured, the DMDK joined the BJP-led alliance for the 2014 general election, in which, the PMK and Vaiko-led MDMK were also constituents.

• In the alliance, though Vijayakanth’s party got the lion’s share of 14 out of 39 LS seats in Tamil Nadu, it failed to win even a single seat and the party’s vote share plummeted to 5.1 per cent.

• In the 2016 Assembly polls, the DMDK was the major party in the Makkal Nala Kootani (People’s Welfare Front), a four-party front in which the Left parties, MDMK and the VCK were partners.

• The DMDK could only garner about 2.4 per cent vote share in 2016 and in the 2019 LS polls drew a blank.

• The gradual slide continued between 2011 and 2016 when functionaries and MLAs had either quit the party or were expelled over several issues.

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