‘Vijay helped with dance’: Co-star recalls getting a bouquet, card on her 18th birthday

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 26, 2026 02:06 PM IST

Riva Bubber and Vijay in a still from Selvaa.

Vijay is still awaiting the release of his last theatrical film, Jana Nayagan, but amid the back and forth between the makers and the CBFC, the actor was elected as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in May 2026. Vijay is enjoying the spotlight now, albeit in a different capacity than he enjoyed earlier as a movie star. His fans and colleagues, who have praised him for decades, are continuing to cheer for him and recently, former actor Riva Bubber, who made her debut with ‘Thalapathy’ back in 1996, recalled her experience of working with him.

Riva made her debut in the entertainment industry with Selvaa, where she played the role of Kamini, the daughter of the President of Sri Lanka, and Vijay played her bodyguard. Riva, in a chat with the YouTube channel India Now and How, shared that she was a “child back then, all of 17.” She recalled shooting with Vijay in Ooty and said that even though she had done some acting classes, she didn’t know much about acting for the camera. “When I was giving my first shot, my heart was beating very fast. It was a wide shot. I had to run into the frame and my heart was beating out of my chest,” she said.

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She then recalled her experience of working with Vijay and said, “Working with Vijay was such a wonderful experience. Like you know, people in the south industry are very professional, down to earth, humble.” Riva shared that she was on the set when she turned 18 and Vijay got her bouquet and wrote a card for her.

“I remember my 18th birthday was on the set. We were not shooting on the day of my birthday, so the next day, my mother called for a cake on the set, and we cut it there. Vjay came up to me and very sweetly said, ‘Oh, it was your birthday, many happy returns of the day.’ I thanked him. Then he asked his driver to get a big bouquet, and he wrote me a card. I wish I had saved the card, but it was all very sweet,” she recalled.

Describing Vijay as a “thorough gentleman”, Riva said, “I didn’t know how to dance very well, so he would be very sweet, very helpful.” She recalled shooting the “dangerous” climax scene of the film, which was shot near a waterfall. “Where we shot the climax, there was a gushing waterfall and the scene was such that I am locked in a cage, and Vijay has to rescue me. And we shot this climax for many days. On the first day, my knees were shaking a little bit because that cage was hanging by a rope and it would be suspended on top of a waterfall, which is gushing from all sides,” she said.

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Recalling the danger involved in shooting that scene, Rova shared, “To tell you how dangerous it was, at the end of shooting the scene, when we took the shot of that cage falling into the waterfall, it fell and it bounced like a ball in that water. And that cage was holding me, Vijay and the fight master.”

Riva also spoke about Vijay becoming the CM of Tamil Nadu and shared that she was “super thrilled” for him. “I was following the elections, obviously. I was really happy for him,” she said.

After Vijay won the election, Riva shared that she looked up her picture with the star from Selvaa. “I looked up that picture with Vijay and me, and no one even recognises me from that picture anymore because the make-up and hair looks in the south were quite different then. A lot of people were like, ‘Is that you?’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s me.’”

After Selvaa, Riva went on to do ads from brands like Cadbury and Ponds, and later appeared in TV shows like Kyun Hota Hai Pyaar, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, K Street Pali Hill, among others.