Actor-turned-politician Vijay seems to be making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Be it his behaviour post-Karur stampede or how he does politics without leaving his Panaiyur home, how he avoids meeting with the press, how he indulges in offline chat that never gets recorded, here is one more addition to that list – not from the recent past but a detailed account of his alleged behaviour and subsequent alleged betrayal, as accused by a staff who worked with him and his dad SA Chandrasekhar for a long time.
From Loyal Assistant to Poverty
In an almost hour-long interview with a YouTube channel, Selvam (birth name Selvaraj) stated that he worked in the film industry for about 40 years, including around 10 years as Vijay’s personal assistant and many more as a production assistant for SA Chandrasekhar’s V.V. Creations. As stated, he handled core personal duties for Vijay on sets: arranging food, juice, coffee and meals, watching over his health routine, and staying constantly at his side like “an electric current” from early morning till late night. Trusting Vijay’s word that he would “never remove” him from work for others’ complaints, Selvam gave up general production jobs and tied his entire livelihood to serving Vijay alone.
Today, he says he cannot get regular work in cinema, survives only on occasional small assignments, and is weighed down by a 10‑lakh‑rupee loan for open‑heart surgery done after multiple heart attacks during film shoots. He lives in a rented house in Saligramam, is months behind on rent, moves around in a bicycle, and says his wife wears only a thread instead of a proper thali chain because of their financial distress.
Humiliation, Violence and Isolation
Although Selvam repeatedly calls Vijay “a very soft‑natured” and punctual person in general, he narrates several episodes that, in his view, reveal a harsh and uncaring side to the star once he became “Thalapathy.”
Slapping and kicking in private: During the shooting of Puli at Talakona, Selvam says Vijay, angry after a phone call, finished dinner and then suddenly slapped him, threw a mirror, kicked him and vented his anger in a closed room at midnight when no one else could hear. “You think, he is Vijay, I am Selvam. Midnight 12. No one around,” he recalls, saying he fell onto the sofa in shock, unable to understand what mistake he had made. The next morning Vijay apologised, telling him, “He said openly: If I don’t hit you, I can’t go hit those people. You’re close to me. I hit you out of that closeness because you’ve been with me for many years.”
Food incident and abrupt removal: During the shooting of Bairavaa, Selvam says Vijay found hair in his food, which Selvam believes was wig hair that someone else had placed it to frame him. Vijay inspected the dishes, got angry and finally told him: “Take this, wash the box, and go home. I’ll call you after 10 days.” Selvam was sent home in a car, without any compensation, and he says that “10 days” became a permanent exit from Vijay’s personal team.
Hostility from the entourage: From the beginning of his PA tenure, Selvam says Vijay’s driver Rajendran and others in the coterie resented him and systematically tried to “cut him off.” They allegedly broke his umbrella on Thuppakki’s ship set, threw away juice straws to make him look careless, banged his door at night after drinking so he couldn’t sleep, and even physically assaulted him via others, while positioning themselves as the main gatekeepers to Vijay. When Selvam once tried to prevent junior‑artist agent Sengaiya from entering Vijay’s room against instructions, Sengaiya slapped him; only after a group of assistants protested did Vijay later intervene and scold the agent.
Emotional blackmail and fear: Selvam describes how the constant harassment and eventual removal pushed him into depression and even a suicide attempt by consuming poison near Surya Hospital, from which a friend saved him. He says the stigma of “leaving such a big artist” led people to ask whether he had stolen something or committed some major mistake, further isolating him from work opportunities.
Broken Promises and Lack of Support
A recurring thread in Selvam’s account is the feeling that Vijay broke a clear personal assurance and then failed to show even basic solidarity when the former aide’s life collapsed.
A promise not kept: At one stage, Selvam says Vijay told him explicitly: “Whoever says anything about you, I will never stop your work or send you away. You came trusting me.” Selvam reorganised his career around that promise, quitting broader production work to focus solely on Vijay’s needs. Yet after the hair‑in‑food incident, he was quietly removed from the PA role and never called back to that position.
No help for surgery or debts: After years of service, Selvam suffered three major heart attacks while working on a Vijay film and underwent open‑heart surgery costing around 10 lakh rupees, funded entirely by high‑interest loans because hospitals refused to accept his government letters in time. He says he tried repeatedly to reach Vijay via TVK treasurer Venkat, and his children called too from the ICU, but “he never even picked up the phone,” and office/security staff blocked him at house, office and shooting spots.
Token gestures vs long closeness: For his son’s wedding, Selvam personally invited Vijay on set during Sarkar and also invited SA Chandrasekhar, hoping for some help because the family was conducting the marriage through loans. Vijay did not attend or send any message, Chandrasekhar sent 2,000 rupees via office boy, and Vijay’s manager Ram gave 5,000. Selvam contrasts this with how, in Kuruvi days, he once injured himself badly while carrying juice over rocks, was bandaged and sent to hospital, and even then, the help he remembers is 10,000 given by Udhayanidhi Stalin and Shenbaga Moorthy, not by Vijay himself.
Shut out from work and reputation damage: Selvam says many producers assume “Vijay sir must have deposited money in your bank” and therefore avoid hiring him, believing he has secretly been settled by the star. In reality, he says, “If I take retirement benefits, it will all be gone in one moment; my family will be on the streets,” and he credits only the union and occasional small projects for keeping him barely afloat.
Selvam Says His Conscience Knows The Truth
Selvam and Vijay are both Christians, and Selvam’s narrative often blends his Christian faith with his sense of betrayal. He recounts that even when he was accused over food incidents, he would say, “Only my Jesus knows whether it’s true or false,” stressing that he tried to keep his conscience clean in his work. His wife, also a Christian, repeatedly urged him not to speak against Vijay: “Let him act according to his nature. He has become busy; we shouldn’t trouble him,” and insisted they leave the matter to God rather than retaliate.
Selvam contrasts this Christian ideal of compassion with the reality that a “fellow Christian” he served like family has not enquired whether he has one proper meal a day, even when his daughter became a widow and returned to his home. He recalls: “We are Christians; if someone wrongs us, we leave it to God; we don’t retaliate,” but adds that he is forced to speak now only because he is “struggling even for food” and hopes some help may reach his family. For him, the real test of faith is whether a man who speaks of ideals and justice will look down from his political and film heights and remember the worker who served him.
Cinema Power, Workers and a Question to Vijay
Selvam situates his personal story within a larger critique of how star power and crores of rupees contrast with the insecurity of workers who wake at 4 AM to serve them. He asks whether Vijay has helped “even one cinema worker” from the crores he earned, pointing to lightmen who fall and die, drivers who work 24 hours, and production assistants who endure humiliation just to feed their families.
He recalls how MGR once took back a former personal staffer, gave him a home and told him, “A man who worked under MGR should not suffer under someone else,” and wonders whether today’s actors who invoke MGR’s legacy are willing to act with similar humanity.
He also contrasts Vijay with Ajith, saying Ajith builds houses for his workers and supports their children’s medical and education needs, and remembers how Ajith once cooked biryani himself for all technicians on the Mankatha set and personally gave Selvam food. Though he says he likes Vijay, his son is a Vijay fan, and his wife still refuses to speak ill of him, he feels that “when he was Ilaya Thalapathy he was good; after becoming Thalapathy, he totally forgot,” and that living isolated from ordinary people has made Vijay insensitive to ground‑level suffering.
In the end, Selvam’s story stands as a sharp moral question directed at Vijay: what does it mean for a Christian, cinema icon and now political leader to speak about justice, workers and MGR ideals, while a man who served his food for ten years cannot afford food, rent, or medicine?
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