The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : He plays his roles to perfection

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 12, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

He plays his roles to perfection

S.R.Ashok Kumar

"I accept projects, whether big or small, and give it my best shot"

`Delhi' Ganesh

`Delhi' Ganesh is a much-admired actor, with decades of experience in theatre, television and cinema. He talks about his past and about the present state of affairs in the film industry.

I am very easy to work with. I rarely get angry, as I feel the director knows best in terms of how to make an artist perform. I always accept projects, whether big or small, and give it my best shot.

I was working with the Indian Air Force in New Delhi. I used to act in Dakshina Bharatha Nataka Sabha plays.

I moved to Chennai after my marriage.

Here, I started acting in Kathadi Ramamurthy's `Stage Creations' plays. Subsequently, I formed my own troupe `Om Ganesh Creations.' We staged five dramas, each of them 100 times.

I have travelled all over India with my troupe.

I have performed on stage more than 1,500 times.

Director K. Balachander watched "Pattanapravesam", a play in which I acted, thrice. I was thrilled when he chose me to play the part in a film based on the play.

My first shot before the camera was for "Pattanapravesam", at Vasu studios in 1976.

I asked director K. Balachander if he wanted to change my name.

That is how M. Ganeshan became `Delhi' Ganesh.

I have acted in more than 400 films in four languages, most of them in Tamil.

I have also done five films each in Telugu and Malayalam and one Hindi film, `Dus', with Sanjay Dutt.

While my producers are happy with my repertoire of work, my grandchildren prefer my comedy films — `Thennali', `Avvai Shanmugi', `Michael Madhana Kamarajan', `London', `Thamizhan' and the recent `Muni'.

My favourite actors are Kamal Haasan and Jyotika.

I have also acted in a few television serials. `Sahana' and `Kasturi' are significant among them. Both have brought me fame.

I wish to do better work in future.

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