Happy birthday Vijay Deverakonda: Did you know he auctioned his first Filmfare award for ₹25 lakh for a noble cause?

Actor Vijay Deverakonda turned 33 on Monday and he celebrated his birthday on the sets of his upcoming Telugu film in Kashmir. He rose to fame with his breakout performance with the highly controversial film Arjun Reddy, which earned him, his first Filmfare award. Vijay auctioned the award for ₹25 lakh for a noble cause towards which he donated all the proceeds. Also Read: Samantha Ruth Prabhu thanks 'scamster' Vijay Deverakonda for the ‘sweetest surprise’ on her birthday

Vijay earned overnight stardom soon after the release of Arjun Reddy, in which he played an obsessive lover turned alcoholic. The film went on to become a massive box office success and was later remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh and twice in Tamil: as Adithya Varma and Varmaa.

Vijay won his first Filmfare award for his performance in Arjun Reddy. Soon after the win, Vijay invited the media and his fans for a surprise sundowner party where he auctioned his first Filmfare trophy. Sharing the details about the same on his Twitter handle, he had written, “The 1st Rowdy Club Sundowner Party. Filmfare given away 25 lakhs raised for CMRF Divi labs. You are now a part of my journey. This black lady is special to all of us. I shall show my appreciation by visiting you all :)”

His post had further read, “Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao – KTR Anna we’ve seen this through successfully and in style – 25 lakh I can’t wait to see you and hand it over.” [ sic]”

The Filmfare award for Arjun Reddy was brought by Divi Labs’ Shakunthala and Kiran Divi for ₹25 lakh. After the auction, Vijay addressed the media and said he was paid ₹5 lakhs as his remuneration for Arjun Reddy, which was directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga.

Vijay had revealed he expected his trophy to be auctioned off for the same price of ₹5 lakh. However, he said he never expected that Divi Labs would offer him five times his salary.

M Vijay is looking forward to the release of his pan-Indian project Liger, in which he plays a mixed martial arts artist. Directed by Puri Jagannadh, the film also stars Ananya Panday and Mike Tyson in a key cameo.