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.

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. He also began acting in television soap operas while also remaining active on stage.