The early years
Vijay won his first successful film in 1996 as the Vikraman-directed film Poove Unkaga, which helped Vijay to establish Tamil films as an emerging star.
In 1997, he starred in Sunrise film Nerrukku Ner along with Sun Shiv Kumar. This film was produced by Mani Ratnam. After this, he acted in Fazil directed Kadhalukku Mariyadhai. Kadhalukku Mariyadhai was considered a blockbuster film and this film gave Vijay the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor of that year.