Vivek (19 November 1961 – 17 April 2021), born Vivekanandan, was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in more than two hundred Tamil films. He was the leading comic actor of Tamil cinema in the early 2000s and was distinctive for building social criticism into his jokes: superstition, caste pride, bribery and the neglect of the environment were his regular targets. Audiences called him Chinna Kalaivanar, after the reformist comedian of an earlier age. He received the Padma Shri in 2009.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Vivekanandan |
| Born | 19 November 1961, Tamil Nadu |
| Died | 17 April 2021 (aged 59), Chennai |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian |
| Years active | 1987–2021 |
| Known as | Chinna Kalaivanar |
| Notable films | Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal, Kushi, Minnale, Run, Dhool, Saamy, Anniyan, Sivaji |
| Education | American College, Madurai (M.Com.) |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2009); Filmfare Awards South; Tamil Nadu State Film Awards |
| Spouse | Arulselvi |
Early Life
Vivek grew up in southern Tamil Nadu, the son of a schoolteacher, and studied commerce at the American College in Madurai, taking a master’s degree. He passed a government recruitment examination and worked for several years as a junior assistant in the state Secretariat in Chennai. In his spare time he performed stand-up comedy and mimicry at the Madras Humour Club, where he came to the notice of the director K. Balachander.
Career
Beginnings
Balachander first used him as a writer’s assistant and then gave him a small part in Manathil Uruthi Vendum (1987) and a bigger one in Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal (1989), in which his catchphrase about what tomorrow may bring became popular. Through the 1990s he played the hero’s friend in a long series of films.
Star comedian
By about 2000 he was the first-choice comedian for the leading directors and stars. Producers would commission a separate comic sub-plot for him, which he largely wrote himself, in films such as Kushi, Minnale, Run, Dhool, Saamy, Perazhagan, Anniyan and Sivaji, with Rajinikanth. In these tracks he might play a rationalist exposing a fake holy man, a traffic policeman, a college lecturer or a street-smart tout, and the laughter usually carried a point: in Saamy his character, a Brahmin who refuses to observe caste, takes on the orthodox of his own community. He acknowledged a debt to N. S. Krishnan, the “Kalaivanar” of the 1940s, and to the thinking of Periyar.
He won several Filmfare and Tamil Nadu State awards for best comedian. Later he played leading and character roles, notably as a retired policeman in the thriller Vellai Pookal (2019) and in Dharala Prabhu (2020).
Green Kalam
Vivek was devoted to the former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, whom he interviewed on television. At Kalam’s suggestion he began in 2010 a campaign he named Green Kalam, with the aim of planting one crore trees across Tamil Nadu, working mainly through schools and colleges. By the time of his death more than thirty-three lakh saplings had been planted. He also campaigned for the government on issues such as dengue prevention and plastic use.
Personal Life
He was married to Arulselvi and had two daughters and a son. The son, Prasanna Kumar, died in 2015 at the age of thirteen after an illness, a loss from which friends said he never fully recovered.
Death
On 15 April 2021 he took a Covid-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Chennai and spoke to reporters urging the public to do the same. The next day he collapsed at home with a heart attack; he died early on 17 April. The health authorities stated, after inquiry, that his death was not connected with the vaccination. He was cremated with state police honours.
Legacy
His supporters and the state government have continued the tree-planting drive in his name, and a road in Chennai where he lived was named after him. His comedy tracks circulate endlessly on television and online, as much for what they say as for how funny they are.
Featured image: Vivek at the press meet for Ezhumin, October 2018. Photo by Silverscreen Media Inc., licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
