When you imagine Thalapathy Vijay, the first images that come to mind is his domineering screen presence, punch dialogues, high flying action and ofcourse his inimitable dance moves. In almost all his films he dominates the screen and even effortlessly matched the charisma of such legendary actors like Sivaji Ganesan and Mohan Lal in 'Once More' and 'Jilla' respectively.

However Vijay has shown that he can also surrender to the script and director's vision and play subdued roles letting others dominate. In the 2003 film 'Vaseegara', Vijay plays a very vulnerable youth and all through the screenplay it is the heroine Sneha who dominates him. But the film has become a cult classic because of the natural touch that Vijay brought to the character.

In 'Nanban' the Shankar version of the acclaimed '3 Idiots', Vijay defied age to convincingly play a college student. Screen time wise Sathyan, Jiiva, Sathyaraj, Srikanth and Ileana have more space than Vijay and each of these characters dominate him in atleast one scene. The other two heroes fling shoes at him, the heroine questions whether he is gay and her sister even slaps him during the famous childbirth scene. All this has never been done by a mass hero before in Tamil cinema.

In the most recent 'Mersal', the Vettrimaaran character that Vijay plays in the flash back is seen as a golden hearted but tough village man. But in his house its his wife played by Nithya Menon who dominates him in every frame. The most appealing moment in the film is when Nithya is sitting on a chair and her husban on the ground gives her a leg massage.

All the above cited examples have been Vijay's most loved characters and prove that even when he is subtle and plays against type he wins hearts and that is his biggest strength. We take this opportunity to wish the Thalapathy a grand birthday and many many more years of good health, cheer and crowning glory.