page_title: Sivaji Ganesan
section_title: Popularity
hierarchical_section_title: Sivaji Ganesan / Popularity
caption_attribution_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
context_page_description: Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor, and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which gave him also the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam. In a career that spanned close to five decades, he had acted 288 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
  Ganesan was the first Indian film actor to win a "Best Actor" award in an International film festival, the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Cairo, Egypt in 1960. Many leading South Indian film actors have stated that their acting was influenced by Ganesan. In addition, he received four Filmfare Awards South and a National Film Award. In 1997, Ganesan was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for films in India. He was also the first Indian actor to be made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
  Ganesan is remembered as an iconic figure of Tamil cinema. Upon his death, The Los Angeles Times described him as "the Marlon Brando of south India's film industry".
context_section_description: When President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited India, Sivaji Ganesan was the only individual granted permission by the then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to host a party for Nasser. Nasser was given a number of valuable mementos depicting the civilization and culture of South India. Sivaji Ganesan was the first artist from India to visit the United States, in the cultural exchange programme of the US government, in 1962, 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. The only other Indian who has had this honour before Ganesan was Jawaharlal Nehru. When Sivaji returned from America, there was a huge crowd to receive him at the Madras Airport and MGR was there. When Sivaji returned from Egypt after winning the best actor award, there was a huge crowd to receive him at the Madras Airport. On 22 March 1976, he went over to Mauritius on an invitation from Prime Minister Ramagoolam and took part in their independence day celebrations and stayed as their government guest for four days.
  During his visit to the United States in June 1995, he visited Columbus, Ohio. Participating in the dinner hosted to honour Ganesan, the Mayor of the city, Greg Lashutka honoured him by announcing him as an honorary citizen of Columbus. On the same occasion, the Mayor of Mount Vernon read out and gave him a special welcome citation. The Columbus Tamil Sangam was formulated on that day and Ganesan was made the honorary President of that association.
  It was Sivaji's tragedy that, as the years progressed, opportunities for him to display his acting talent became scarce. But he did act in cameo roles, often stealing the scenes, as in Thevar Magan, which won him the National Awards Jury's Special Jury award in 1993. Sivaji, incidentally, declined the award.
caption: Ganesan Statue on Kamarajar Road in Chennai
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