Why Vijay Deverakonda removed 'The' from his name

Mumbai: Vijay Deverakonda is one of Tollywood’s biggest young stars. In just a short time, he became a national sensation with his bold acting style and strong personality. From movies like Arjun Reddy to Geetha Govindam, Vijay created a space for himself in Indian cinema. He’s not someone who follows the crowd—he stands out. Like other stars with special titles such as Thalapathy or Mega Star, Vijay also tried using a unique tag: “The Vijay Deverakonda.”

He pulled the trigger
And it shot straight to the TOP 👊🏾#Kingdom Release Date Promo is TRENDING #1 on YouTube 🔥

Telugu - https://t.co/VHxPNQ7jys
Tamil - https://t.co/4pz0vwDhlb

In Cinemas July 31st, 2025 ❤️@TheDeverakonda @anirudhofficial @gowtam19 @ActorSatyaDev… pic.twitter.com/qi71gbcqtM

— Sithara Entertainments (@SitharaEnts) July 8, 2025

Why He Added ‘The’ – And Why He Took It Back

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Vijay opened up about why he added ‘The’ to his name and what went wrong. “That was a whole situation in itself. There was a crazy amount of backlash because ‘The’ was added to my name. Interestingly, no other person has ever received backlash for something like that. You can have any name—from Universal Star to People’s Star—and people younger than me, older than me, those who debuted before me, everyone has a tagline. I was probably the only one without one. Nobody else gets backlash.”

Back in 2022, during the promotions of Liger, his team suggested using a tag because media was already calling him names like “Southern Sensation” and “Rowdy Star.” At first, Vijay didn’t like the idea. “I resisted this for a while, but people started coining their own terms,” he said.

Choosing Simplicity Over Titles

Vijay felt that these tags were limiting. “I’m not a Southern Sensation—I’m from India. I want to be known by India,” he shared. He thought ‘The’ would be a simple tag, but even that caused problems. “If people don’t want it, chop it off,” he said. “Just call me Vijay Deverakonda. That’s enough.”

What’s Coming Next

Vijay’s next film Kingdom is a spy thriller, directed by Jersey fame Gowtam Tinnanuri. It will release in theatres on July 31 and also stars Satyadev and Bhagyashree Borse. Fans are excited to see him back in action.

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