DYK Vijayakanth sold shampoo, worked as jewellery salesman before becoming an actor?

Top actor Vijayakanth, who passed away in Chennai on Thursday, had worked for a shampoo company in the Kerala capital as its representative and also worked as a salesman at a jewellery shop in the heart of the city in the early 1970s, old associates recalled.

R.S.Mohandas, who owns a popular theatre here, said that he remembers Vijayakanth before he became an actor.

Thiruvananthapuram had three theatres which screened Tamil films and he often used to come to watch the films, he said, adding that he was also a great fan of evergreen Malayalam actor Prem Nazir, whose films he never used to miss.

Vijayakanth had come to the city to work as a sales representative of Velvet Shampoo company and later, became a salesman at a local jewellery shop here.

"He, after becoming a star, visited here a few times and was always the same person as he was and never did the stardom make him a different person," said a person who knew the actor from the 1970s.

The actor who turned to politics and founded the DMDK, was, known by fans as the "Captain" for his portrayal of military characters. Admitted to a hospital for treatment of pneumonia, he was on ventilator support. He tested positive for Covid-19.