Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy,[a] better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001)[4][5] was an Indian actor and film producer.

He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen,[9] which also gave him the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam (transl.

[10] In a career that spanned close to five decades, he had acted in 288 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

[21][22] Ganesan was born on 1 October 1928,[1][2][3][4] as the fourth son of Chinnaiya Manrayar and Rajamani Ammal in Villupuram,[6] India in a Kallar family.

Media outlets said that the initial 'V' stood for Villupuram, though one of Ganesan's sons stated that it stands for Vettaithidal, a village from which their family originates.

[8] Without his father's consent,[24] Ganesan decided to join a touring stage drama company at the age of seven.

[11] At the age of 10, he moved to Tiruchirappalli and joined a drama troupe in Sangiliyandapuram and began to perform in stage plays.

Ganesan made his acting debut in the 1952 Tamil film Parasakthi, which was directed by the Krishnan–Panju duo and co-starred actress Pandari Bai.

Perumal cast Ganesan after being impressed with his performance as Nur Jahan in the Sakthi Nadaga Sabha play of the same name.

When shooting began and 2000 feet of the film was shot, Meiyappan was dissatisfied with Ganesan's "thin" physique, and wanted him replaced with K. R. Ramasamy.

(In fact, Sivaji Ganesan lent his voice to Mukkamala Krishna Murthy, a Telugu actor, for a Tamil film Niraparathi.

His epical portrayals in films such as Thiruvilayaadal, Thiruvarutselvar, Saraswati Sabatham, Thirumal Perumai and Thillana Mohanambal won him critical acclaim.

[49] He played a variety of roles such as freedom fighters, like Tiruppur Kumaran, Bhagat Singh[26] and epic characters like Karna, Bharatha, Narada, Appar, Nayanmars and Alwars.

Several directors such as Krishnan–Panju, T. R. Sundaram, T. R. Ramanna, A. P. Nagarajan, L. V. Prasad, B. R. Panthulu, T. Prakash Rao, D. Yoganand, A. Bhim Singh, K. Shankar, C. V. Sridhar, A. C. Tirulokchandar, P. Madhavan, K. S. Gopalakrishnan, Muktha V.Srinivasan, C. V. Rajendran, and K. Vijayan directed Ganesan in different roles.

[47] His other films released during this period are Pasumpon, Once More, En Aasai Rasave and Mannavaru Chinnavaru, where he was cast in prominent roles.

My teacher (Chinna Ponnuswamy Padayachi of Chidambaram) taught me Bharatnatyam, acting, body movements & practically everything.

In 1960, K. Kamaraj introduced the Midday Meal Scheme for which Sivaji Ganesan donated one lakh rupees.

Sivaji Ganesan presented a 80 gram gold chain to P. Kakkan, who was living in poverty, and also he donated the entire proceeds from the play 'Thanga Padhakkam' which is held at the Salem Nehru Auditorium.

Sivaji himself was defeated by DMK candidate Durai Chandrasekaran in the Tiruvayaru seat by a difference of 10,643 votes.

[69] He later joined the Janata Dal under VP Singh and rose through the ranks to become the party's state president, but his political career came to an end in 1993.

A documentary Parasakthi Muthal Padayappa Varai was made to commemorate Sivaji Ganesan's legacy.

[75] His funeral the next day was telecast live on Sun TV and was attended by thousands of viewers, politicians and personalities from the South Indian film fraternity.

[76] His eldest son Ramkumar Ganesan, performed his last rites at the Besant Nagar Crematorium, Chennai.

[78] Sivaji Ganesan was the first artist from India to visit the United States in a cultural exchange programme by the US government.

In 1962, Ganesan was invited by the then-US President John F. Kennedy, where he took the role of India's cultural ambassador.

During his visit there, he was honoured by being made the honorary mayor of Niagara Falls, New York, for one day and was presented the golden key to the city.

Upon returning to India from both Egypt and the US, massive crowds of fans were present at Madras Airport to celebrate his arrival.

Ganesan is known for his versatility and has acted as a blind man in Palum Pazhamum, a physically handicapped person in Bhaaga Pirivinai, enacting Nine numbers of totally different personas from various social strata and the corresponding body language (gait, voice, facial expression, etc.)

in " Navarathiri", thereby becoming probably the first-time in Indian cinema history as an actor reprising Nine roles in a single film and in extension, inspiring subsequent films (at least) in Tamil like "Navarathinam" (the great MGR – starred), "Dasavatharam" (featuring Kamal Haasan), a man with a scared face as in Deiva Magan, a murderer in Pudhiya Paravai, or a traitor as in Andha Naal, the first movie that had no songs at all.

[90] Located in Adyar, a southern neighbourhood of the city, it is built in the Tamil style of architecture, adorned with domes, and houses a statue of the actor, which was previously erected on the Marina Beach in 2006.