[2][3] Reddy was born in Tadepalligudem in the West Godavari district of Madras Presidency in British India to a farming family.
[4] Reddy started his career in the cinema industry as an assistant editor for B. Vittalacharya's Kannada directorial Mane Tumbida Hennu.
[6] Vijay's next five movies, Sri Srinivasa Kalyana, Mayura, Naa Ninna Mareyalare, Badavara Bandhu and Sanaadi Appanna, all of which starred Rajkumar were huge commercial successes.
[7][8][9] He achieved national recognition with the 1977 movie Sanaadi Appanna which had acclaimed shehnai player Bismillah Khan playing the instrument for the lead actor Rajkumar.
[10][11] He directed Rajkumar in nine movies (excluding two cameo appearances) in varied genres including mythological, historical, novel based, folklore and social dramas.
Vijay also directed 17 Hindi and six Telugu films, where he worked with the reigning stars of the time such as Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha and Mithun Chakraborty.