Decoding the success of ‘Bheema’: How Kannada star Duniya Vijay is revelling in his new actor-director role

Unabashedly catering to his target audience has helped Duniya Vijay succeed second time as a filmmaker with ‘Bheema’ after he made a hit start to film direction with ‘Salaga’ in 2021

Duniya Vijay has beaten the sophomore slump with Bheema. By repeating the hit formula of his directorial debut Salaga, and unabashedly catering to his target audience, Vijay has resurrected his two-decade-long career with his new actor-director role.

Bheema, just like Salaga, is a crime drama. The film, which talks about the dangerous consequences of youth substance abuse, is set in the slums of Bengaluru. Unlike a run-of-the-mill commercial outing that shows people, especially men, from poverty-stricken areas as generic villains, Bheema features some verydistinct characters from such neighbourhoods.

Working with 60 new actors, Vijay builds a world that sharply reflects the lifestyle of people from such localities. “When you set a film in a particular environment, it’s very important to depict the realities that exist there,” says Vijay.

Young film-goers, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds and lower middle class, are Vijay’s biggest fans. The actor became a star after Duniya, the 2007 blockbuster, in which he played a labourer in a stone quarry who struggled to build a tombstone for his mother’s grave. Perhaps, since then, the actor’s portrayals of a marginalised man’s fight for justice have earned him a young fan base who relate to the adversities faced by his characters.

Filmmaker Suri, who launched Vijay as a star with Duniya, takes a dialogue from the film as an example to explain Vijay’s journey in the film industry. “‘Just because someone is dark and poor, he or she isn’t a thief or a corrupt person‘. Vijay wants to tell his fans that in real life, a hero can be one among them,” says Suri.

In the lead-up to his two directorials, Vijay grabbed the attention of his fans through Charan Raj’s highly irresistible and funky songs, and even worked with singers from the Siddi community and Jenu Kurubas; his experiments paid off.

This association with the marginalised community, combined with Vijay’s vocal support for Ambedkarism, has caught the attention of industry insiders and fans. “When you talk about Ambedkar, people associate him with one community. However, Ambedkar, for me, is someone who advocates for equality irrespective of any group. I will continue to idolise Ambedkar. If you see in Bheema, I don’t show the plight of the poor. Even children from rich families get affected by drug addiction in the film,” he says.