Vijay Sethupathi: Unknown facts about the actor who played the villain in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’

In Atlee’s action thriller, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Vijay plays Kaali Gaikwad, a notorious arms dealer.

Vijay Sethupathi was born in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu, and made his acting debut with Thenmerku Paruvakaatru in the year 2010. He bagged his first National Film Award for portrayal of a transgender person in Super Deluxe. Having acted in more than 50 films, he is now one of the most sought-after actors of his generation.

Currently, he is fresh off the success of his latest film Jawan, which features him as the antagonist Kaalie Gaikwad, an arms dealer. In the film helmed by Atlee, Vijay plays the main villain going up against Shah Rukh Khan's protagonist.

Jawan also stars Nayanthara, Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Girija Oak, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Lehar Khan, Aaliyah Qureshi, Ridhi Dogra, Sunil Grover and Mukesh Chhabra. A Red Chillies Entertainment presentation, Jawan is produced by Gauri Khan and co-produced by Gaurav Verma, and hit the theatres on September 7 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

And guess what? The film has already managed to cross ₹300 crore at the domestic box office collection five days after its release.

Now as we talk about Jawan and Vijay Sethupathi, let’s look at some of the unknown facts about him:

Worked as an accountant in Dubai

Did you know that before he went into acting full swing and his career took off, Vijay Sethupathi worked as an accountant? In November 2000, after a few odd jobs in Mumbai, the actor moved to Dubai to work as an accountant. According to the Hindustan Times, he was reportedly paid Rs 12,000, which was four times more than what he was making in India at that time.

Love story with Jessy Sethupathi

In 2018, Onmanorama quoted Vijay as talking about his love story, “We became friends even before we saw each other. Jessy too was in Dubai when I was working there. It was through online chatting we became close friends.” He had once recalled during a chat with Hindustan Times, “She was my friend’s colleague. We used to chat online. In November 2003, I flew down to marry her. I was just 24,” adding, “If you ask me how and why we got married, I’m at a loss to explain. I don’t overthink such things.” The couple has two children, a son named Surya and a daughter named Shreeja.

National Film Award recipient

Vijay Sethupathi’s fabulous performance in Super Deluxe eventually led him to win the National Film Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. In the Thiagarajan Kumararaja directorial, Vijay played the role of Shilpa aka Manickam, a transgender, married to Jothi (Gayathrie) and Rasukutty's (Ashwanth Ashokkumar) father. The film also starred Fahadh Faasil, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and Ramya Krishnan.

Fees for Jawan

According to India Today, Vijay Sethupathi was reportedly paid an amount of Rs 21 crore for playing the main villain against Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan.

Doesn’t believe in dieting

In an interview with Galatta Plus, Vijay Sethupathi had mentioned that he is not a fan of dieting. He had confessed, “I don’t believe in diet concepts. So, I need to eat tasty foods. I love it. I believe that if I don’t eat tasty food, then my life won’t be tasty. So, I like to eat tasty foods.”

Acting Stint

Ever since he was in school, Vijay's inclination was more towards sports and extracurricular activities. He later joined a Chennai-based theatre group Koothu-P-Pattarai as an accountant, and that’s when his interest in acting developed. Apart from feature films, he has featured in 195 episodes long TV show called Penn along with short films like Thuru, Maa Thavam, Kadhalithu Paar, The Angel among others.