 Villupuram
Chinniah Pillai Ganesan was born on October 1, 1927. His parents
worshipped Lord Ganesha and named him after the god they worshipped.
His father Chinniah Pillai worked for the railways actively took
part in the freedom struggle. Since his father was actively into
the struggle against the British Sivajis mother Rajamani Ammal brought
him up.
Its
not new that like most of the actors in that genre he dropped out
of school to pursue his interest: theatre. He ran away from home
and joined Boys Company, the then famous theater group and started
playing female roles. It was his mesmerizing voice and the range
that it had made him prominent in the group and he started making
his mark felt.
Many
wonder how Villupuram Chinniah Pillai Ganesan came to be know as
"Sivaji" Ganesan. Well, its not his films that gave him
his name nut the second to none performance as Chatrapati Sivaji
in the stage play 'Sivaji Kanda Hindu Samrajyam'. The play
got so many laurels and his acting was
well appreciated. But it was "Periyar' Ramaswamy Naickar who
conferred the title of Sivaji.
 The
story of Sivaji Ganesan was a saga of success. In his twenties Sivaji
got an offer to play a lead role in Parasakthi (1952) by P.A. Perumal
Mudaliar of National Pictures. The film turned out to be a box office
hit. He acted in at least 300 more movies after Parasakthi. Most
of these movies were as lead hero and he made special appearances
too in Tamil and other films. Apart from Tamil films he also acted
in films of other south Indian languages, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
He also acted in a few Hindi movies.
Sivaji
was never the one to worry about his image and possibility of screen
roles spoiling his image. He would smoke, drink and womanise if
the role required. He has done roles ranging from lawyer, a murderer,
james bond like charecters, villain, etc with utmost elan. From
'Parasakthi' in (1952)
to 'Thevar Magan' in (1992), Sivaji Ganesan played every
conceivable character on screen - son, father, brother, hero, anti-hero,
action and comedy. Endowed with a good physique, an expressive face
capable of potraying any human emotion Sivaji was renowned for his
emotional characters, having the uncanny ability to make audiences
weep over his portrayal of tragic characters.
 He
has his contributions in Telugu cinema as well. He acted in 9 straight
Telugu movies and did special appearance in 6 Telugu movies. Some
of the films in which he acted are Vishwanatah Nayakudu (1987),
Agni Puthrudu (1987), Bezawada Bebbuli (1983), Nivuru
Gappina Nippu (1982), Paradesi (1953), Pempudu Koduku
(1953), Manohara (1954) and Parasakthi (1957).
Some
of the special appearances worth a mention are Bhaktha Tukaram
(1973), Bangaru Babu (1973), Ramadasu (1964), Pillalu
Thechina Challani Rajyam (1960), Chanakya Chandra Gupta
(1977) and Jeevana Teeralu (1977). Countless of his movies
are dubbed into Telugu and his performances in movies like Aatma
Bandhuvu, Kshatriya Putrudu, Bhakta Tukaram won laurels from
Telugu audience. Many of Telugu hits were remade in Tamil with Sivaji
giving life to the roles. Prem Nagar was remade in Tamil
under Suresh Productions by Rama Naidu with Sivaji doing the role
of ANR to perfection
 Retired
and plagued by ill-health through the last few years, Sivaji took
each day as it came. To quote him... "I don't worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow's problems are for another day." It was just another
day on July 21 2001 and he left - the world.
Sivaji
will remain etched forever in people's mind for his portrayal of
a wide range of characters, social, political, historical, mythological
with equal finesse & felicity of expression, and expressive
dialogue
delivery.Living and breathing those characters, Sivaji would continuing
to inspire generations to follow.
We,
at idlebrain.com, along with our visitors pay tributes to Sri Sivaji
Ganesh for all the good things he has done to Indian cinema. May
his soul rest in peace.
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