Image: Sivaji Ganesan

Description: Sivaji Ganesan (October 1, 1927 - July 21, 2001) was a famous Indian actor and politician. His real name was Villupuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan.The name 'Sivaji' was given to him by Thanthai Periyar after watching his excellent stage performance as Emperor Shivaji. He is also known as Nadigar Thilagam, Nadippu Chakravarthy (loosely translated "Acting Emperor") and the Marlon Brando of Asian cinema. He was a towering actor who overshadowed all other actors of his period in south Indian cinema. Once Marlon Brando told in an interview that Sivaji can act like him and He can't act like Sivaji. He was the one of the best actor world has ever seen. He has acted in about 300 movies.# In 1962, Ganesan toured the U.S.A, where he was given the honour of being the mayor of Niagara City for one day. He along with the former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru were the only two Indians to be honoured this way. During a visit to the U.S.A in June 1995, Sivaji Ganesan found himself in Columbus, Ohio. Mayor Greg Lashutka named him honorary citizen of Columbus at a special dinner. Awards Won * Best Actor Award, Afro-Asian Film Festival, Cairo, Egypt 1960 * Padma Shri Title, 1966 * Padma Vibhushan Title, 1984 * Chevalier dans Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters), 1994 * Dadasaheb Phalke Award, 1996 Crossing legal hurdles, Sivaji Ganesan's statue was unveiled by his long time friend, author of Parasakthi the film which introduced Sivaji Ganesan and brought him fame, the present Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on July 21, 2006 on the Beach Road, Chennai close to Gandhi statue Notes on Sivaji Ganesan - Wikipedia
Title: Sivaji Ganesan
Credit: Sivaji Ganesan
Author: Balu Velachery from Chennai, India
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes