Vivek

Biography:

Early Life:

Vivek performed in stand-up comedy performances at the Madras Humour Club in his spare time when he was employed at the Secretariat in Chennai. During his pantomimes at the club, he repeatedly received the Best Entertainer Award after helping to pioneer the expansion movement. After leaving Chennai, Vivek proceeded to Madurai to earn a bachelor’s degree in commerce. During the intervals between semesters, he would come back and perform at the club. He first met K. Balachandar, the director of the films, through P. R. Govindarajan, the founder of Humour Club, and they struck up a working connection in which he wrote the scripts for the director’s films.

After four years, Balachandar outlined a circumstance and asked Vivek to write a script for sixteen characters, which Vivek did in a single night, according to Vivek. Later on, he realized that this was only a test, and by his performance, Balachandar gained Vivek’s respect. When Vivek helped with the Manathil Uruthi Vendum script in 1987, Balachandar gave him an acting part as Suhasini’s brother in the movie, which he chose to accept. He started in supporting roles and worked with Balachandar once more in Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal (1989) and Oru Veedu Iru Vasal (1990), before frequently playing a friend to the leading man in films like Putham Pudhu Payanam (1991) and Naan Pesa Ninaipathellam (1993) directed by K. S. Ravikumar.

Film Carrer:

Later, he appeared in Rajinikanth’s Uzhaippali and Veera, where he played supporting character roles. Vivek had to wait until 1996 to prove himself as the only comic who could carry the movie, and he then started to play increasingly important roles in his endeavours.

Because fewer Tamil movies adopted a separate comedy track due to changes in screenwriting in the late 2000s, Vivek’s market appeal started to wane. Further, Vivek’s career hit a low point in 2012 when he only had one release due to a lack of high-profile projects he signed and the rise of Santhanam. During this time, he received praise for his performances as a don in Padikathavan (2009), a drag performer in Guru En Aalu (2009), and a police officer in the Singam (2010) series.

Following his return from a break, Vivek expressed his intention to depart from his regular comedy parts on the advice of Kamal Haasan and director Bala. He then signed on for the 2014 movie Naan Than Bala, in which he portrayed a serious role. He started filming another movie at the same time, Palakkattu Madhavan (2015), in which he played the major role opposite Sonia Agarwal. He also starred alongside Karunas in Sakthi Chidambaram’s unfinished Machan. After his return, Vivek worked on Aishwarya Dhanush’s Vai Raja Vai (2015), Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Yennai Arindhaal (2015), and Velraj’s Velaiyilla Pattathari (2014) to reappear in films with larger budgets.

Vivek plays his role in a “believable and convincing manner,” according to one reviewer, “despite seeming a bit awkward in certain scenes, the actor pulls it off thanks to his persistence.” In 2020 and 2021, respectively, he released the films Dharala Prabhu, starring Harish Kalyan, and Aranmanai 3. His final movie, The Legend, came out in 2022, a year after he had away. He appeared in more than 220 films throughout his acting career.

Death:

Vivek reported shortness and chest pain on April 16, 2021, and after passing out at home, was sent to a SIMS Hospital in Chennai. When he was diagnosed as critical, doctors found that he had a 100% blocked left anterior descending artery due to a thrombosis, which resulted in congestive heart failure. He passed away in a hospital on April 17, 2021, at the age of 59, following an angioplasty. He received a state funeral in front of a sizable throng close to his Virugambakkam, Chennai, home.

Vivek received Covaxin from Bharat Biotech the day before the incident and promoted the COVID-19 vaccine. This raised the possibility that the vaccine may have contributed to his death, however, the National Human Rights Commission rejected this theory, stating that his heart attack was caused by hypertension rather than the vaccine. In Chennai, Vivek was buried with full state honours.