Sanchari Vijay

Vijay Kumar Basavarajaiah (17 July 1983 – 15 June 2021), known by his stage name Sanchari Vijay, was an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada cinema. He began his career as a stage actor. He trained on stage from Sanchari Theatre, a culture centre with its own drama troupe, based in Bangalore.

For his portrayal of a transgender person in the Kannada film Naanu Avanalla...Avalu (2014), Vijay was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 62nd National Film Awards. He also received the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Kannada for the performance. He received praise for his performances in Killing Veerappan (2016) and Nathicharami (2018). In a career spanning ten years, he appeared in 25 films, before his death from a motorcycle crash in 2021.

Early life Vijay was born on 18 July 1983 in Panchanahalli, a village in Kadur taluk of Karnataka's Chikmagalur district. His father Basavarajaiah was an actor and musician and mother Gowramma, a nurse and folk singer. Vijay was the younger of two children; he had an older brother, Siddesh. Vijay's parents died when he was a teenager; his mother from jaundice and father soon after. To help fund his brother's education, Vijay took up a job at a hotel in Bangalore, where he washed utensils. After his brother began working, Vijay completed his pre-university course, before enrolling in B.M.S. College of Engineering, to study engineering. During this time, he was drawn towards stage acting and joined Sanchari Theatre. After graduating, Vijay began working as a lecturer in a college teaching computer science to diploma students.

Career Vijay as a transgender character in Naanu Avanalla...Avalu, which won him the Best Actor Award at the 62nd National Film Awards.

Vijay made his debut in films with the 2011 Kannada film Rangappa Hogbitna. He received recognition for his performance in his next film Dasavala in which he played a disabled boy. Shyam Prasad S. of Bangalore Mirror wrote, "...Vijay is undoubtedly the best performer. He is unbelievably real in the role and deserves all the praise." He was later cast in Oggarane (2014) and as lead actor subsequently in Harivu (2014). In Harivu, he played a farmer who travels to Bangalore and struggles to treat his terminally-ill son. With the award win, Vijay became the third actor after M. V. Vasudeva Rao and Charuhasan to win the National Award for Best Actor for performing in a Kannada film. At the same awards, Harivu won the award for Best Feature Film in Kannada.

In Nathicharami (2018), a film that explores a widow's sexuality, Vijay played Suresh, a middle-aged man, a character with "two very different shades", troubled by an unhappy marriage. In Krishna Tulasi (2018), he played a visually impaired tourist guide. A Sharadhaa of the New Indian Express called it one of his "best performance" and wrote, "He clearly gets into the character of a blind man in love, delivering a powerful performance." The News Minute wrote, "Sanchari Vijay pulls off a strong performance, capturing the texture of a variety of emotions." In Aatakkuntu Lekkakkilla (2019), Vijay played a schizophrenia patient who suspects his wife of infidelity. In commercial films (2018) and Gentleman (2020), he played a cop. In Taledanda, he plays Kunnegowda, a boy obsessed with trees and plants, belonging to the Soliga tribe of South Karnataka. His Puksatte Lifu, "realistic look at life around us", directed by Aravind Kuplikar, completed filming in 2019.

Death Vijay was involved in a motorcycle accident where he was riding-pillion at 11:45 p.m. (IST) on 12 June 2021 in Bengaluru. The motorcycle, a Yamaha FZ1, skidded and hit a light post in the JP Nagar locality of Bengaluru. Vijay suffered severe brain injuries from the accident and was operated on at the Apollo hospital in the city. A doctor was quoted as saying, "As he had blood clot in the brain, we have performed...surgery, the next 48 hours are going to be critical." Vijay was pronounced dead at 3:34 a.m. (IST) on 15 June. Both Kidneys, Liver, Heart Valves And Corneas were donated. His body was kept for public viewing between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. (IST) in Ravindra Kalakshetra that day before being taken to his hometown Panchanahalli. He was cremated with full state police honours there, with brother Siddesh performing the last rites.