A couple of months ago he was going around Sandalwood, earnestly requesting a chance to act in a movie. But today, Sanchari Vijay has transformed into a national icon.The amateur actor with a background in Kannada theatre has requested almost every director in Sandalwood for a role in their movies and has now stunned them all by becoming only the third Kannada actor to win a National Award for Best Actor.Even as the Information and Broadcasting ministry announced the 62nd National Film Awards on Tuesday with Sanchari Vijay winning Best Actor, many in Sandalwood wondered who on earth he was. Only later in the day did they realise that it was the same man who had sent them text messages seeking a chance to act in their movies.Many veterans of the industry soon figured it was the man whose movie Harivu was screened during the Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFF) in December-January.Sources in Sandalwood said that after the successful screening of Harivu, Sanchari Vijay was congratulated by many for his performance. “Probably during that time he may have sought roles in movies. The directors and producers would have asked him to send his details and he sent WhatsApp messages to all seeking roles,” explained a senior director from Sandalwood.The WhatsApp message, in Kannada, goes:“Dear Sir, Namasthe. I am Sanchari Vijay and I have been active in Kannada theatre for the last 8 years. I have acted in several small screen films, short films and telefilms. Since a few months, I have been acting in big screen assignments including Ramesh Aravind’s Rangappa Hogbitna. I have also won best supporting actor award 2014 for a different role in Daswala. I have also acted in Prakash Rai’s films produced in three different languages and recently acted in the lead role of Harivu and Nanavanalla Avalu. Please give me any chance sir, Yours Sanchari Vijay.”Vijay, relatively unknown, became only the third Kannada actor to have won a National Award for Best Actor. The earlier winners in Kannada were Vasudeva Rao for Chomana Dudi (1975) and Charu Haasan in Tabarana Kathe (1986). Interestingly, no mainstream or top actor has ever won a Best Actor award in Kannada. Curiously, no Telugu actor has managed to get the same ever since the awards were instituted in 1967. For the record, Hindi tops the best actor awards' list with 21.Three actors — Kamal Haasan, Mammootty, and Amitabh Bachchan — have been honoured thrice and six actors — Sanjeev Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mohanlal and Ajay Devgn — have been awarded twice. Mithun and Mammootty are the only two actors who have achieved the honour for performances in films in two different languages.