ANGRY, YOUNG MAN

Actor Vijay Deverakonda has conquered Telugu cinema with his charm and acting prowess...welcome, the new superstar.

- NANDINI BHALLA

Actor Vijay Deverakonda has set his sights high, and he's not stopping until he gets there.

“I had not a penny in my pocket, but the confidence of a millionaire. The day I made money, I put an end to the struggle. It was time for them (my parents) to sit back and enjoy the ride. I was born to two fighters, survivors, and dreamers..."

 

Ambitious, angry, and wonderfully unaware of just how successful (and handsome) he is—actor Vijay Deverakonda is the new heartthrob of Telugu cinema who has risen to overnight stardom with such ease, you’d think he was born to be a star. Which, in his mind, he was...despite a childhood where money was scarce, Vijay let his dreams soar high, and backed them with absolute conviction. “I had not a penny in my pocket, but the confidence of a millionaire,” the Baazar India Man coverstar reveals, as he tells us about his rags-to-riches story with sincerity.

But Vijay’s deep-seated desire for success is coupled with his need to prove himself—through quality work. And the hits he has delivered are growing proof of his ability to relay complex roles, even though the 33-year-old insists on not making any assumptions about himself. In fact, Vijay’s performance as the self-destructive surgeon with anger management issues in Arjun Reddy [2017] won him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. And despite Liger, which released earlier this year, not casting a similar spell, Vijay has taken aim at the grand prize of superstadom with singular focus and tunnel vision.