Singer Vijayakanth

Vijayaraj Azhagarswami Naidu, professionally known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is a Tamil film actor and politician in Tamil Nadu, India. He is the founder of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and a Member of Legislative Assembly representing Virudhachalam, Tamil Nadu, India.

Vijayakanth was born as Vijayaraj raja on 25 August 1952 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. His family deity is Veera Chinnamma at Kangeyanatham. His parents are K. N. Alagarswami and Aandal Azhagarswami. His father had a rice mill and was a popular man in the region. Alagarswami was Madurais Counsellor for two terms.. Vijayakanth had a stepmom by the name Rukmaniammal and she had 7 children and on the whole, alagarswami had 11 children. He married Premalatha on 31 January 1990 and had two sons named Vijay Prabhakar and Shanmuga Pandian. Upon entering the film industry to pursue an acting career, Director Khaja (who directed his first film) changed his name to " Amirtaraj" and then "Vijayakanth", dropping the "raj" out of his name and suffixing "kanth." He is nicknamed "Captain" which was taken from his film Captain Prabhakharan.

Vijayakanth first studied in Rosary Convent in Madurai and later continued his education in M C School in Madurai. He later switched over to Devakottai T. Britto High School where he was an inmate. Vijayakanths confidant till date, Ibrahim Ravuthar was his school friend.

He formed the center-left winged Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), a regional political party in Tamil Nadu. He formally announced party formation on 14 September 2005 at Madurai. His party contested in all seats in 2006 assembly elections and won one seat contested by him.