Delhi Ganesh

He was born as Ganesan on 1 August 1944 in Keezhapavur, a town in present-day Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu.^[3][4] The town was the native place of his mother Pichu. However, Ganesan's early education was in Vallanadu (in present-day Thoothukudi district), the native place of his father Mahadevan, a school teacher.^[5] He had an elder sister and a younger brother.^[4]

After completing SSLC, Ganesan went to Madurai and worked in TVS Motor Company. Then, he was recruited by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and served from 1964 to 1974. During this time, he went on to become a Corporal, and was deputed as an auxiliary personnel in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars. During this period, he acted in plays staged by the Delhi-based theatre troupe, Dakshina Bharata Nataka Sabha.^[6][7][8][5]

After quitting the IAF, he joined Kathadi Ramamurthi’s troupe. During his stint there, he received breakthrough for portraying the role of Kuselar in the play Dowry Kalyana Vaibhogame.^[9] Ganesh's performance as Kuselar eventually caught the attention of director K. Balachander, who eventually cast Ganesh in his directorial venture Pattina Pravesam and Ganesh flourished in the role under the watchful eyes of Balachander.^[9] He also had a short stint working as a stenographer in the Food Corporation of India in Chennai.^[9][10]

Ganesh played the lead role in the 1981 film Engamma Maharani. He was best known for his recurring collaborations with Kamal Haasan including Nayakan (1987), Apoorva Sagodharagal (1989), Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), Avvai Shanmugi (1996) and Thenali (2001). He played as an ideal foil to Kamal Haasan in most of his films by emotionally connecting with the audience through his mannerism, screen presence, body language, and effective use of words in dialogue delivery.^[11] The on-screen chemistry between Ganesh and Kamal Haasan during their collaborations had been widely appreciated by critics due to their ability to elevate the crunch moments in films with their natural acting abilities by incorporating the situation aptly.^[11]

In Mani Ratnam's directorial, Nayakan (1987), he brought the range of acting skills to a different dimension where he featured as a Brahmin Iyer and played the right hand of Velu Nayakkar by serving as Velu Nayakkar's ardent follower and as a loyal sidekick, following Velu Nayakkar's footsteps with an attitude of gratitude, showing strong admiration towards Velu Nayakkar's conduct, even at the lowest ebb of Velu Nayakkar's life when his daughter left him due to his stance on honesty, a policy that even took the life of his elder son.^[12] His screen presence was given paramount importance in Nayakan as his role was designed in a way to support Velu Nayakkar's transition from a slum dweller to an underworld don.^[13] He reprised his role of helping a smuggler's transition to an underworld gangster from Nayakan in Gautham Vasudev Menon's directorial venture Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2022), making a cameo appearance.^[14] His most popular roles were as a supporting actor or a comedian, but he also played villainous roles in films such as Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989).^[15] His menacing villainous role in Apoorva Sagodharargal as Francis Anbarasu became talk of the town indicating the versatility in Delhi Ganesh's range of acting skills. Appu eventually used a Rube Goldberg Machine to kill Francis Anbarasu in Apoorva Sagodharargal and the sequence became widely popular upon the release of Apoorva Sagodharargal, which was later parodied in C. S. Amudhan's directorial venture Thamizh Padam (2010), with Delhi Ganesh himself went onto reprise his role.^[16]

In Singeetam Srinivasa Rao's directorial, Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990), he played the character of a Palakkad-based cook and his humorous role received acclaim while his dialogue delivery with a Malayalam accent mixing with Tamil was also applauded.^[16] Dehi Ganesh gave credit to Crazy Mohan for writing the screenplay, which fetched the former's role an equal importance similar to the roles allocated to other cast members in Michael Madana Kama Rajan.^[16] In K. S. Ravikumar's directorial, Avvai Shanmugi (1996), he played the role of Sethurama Iyer, where he was also seen as Gemini Ganesan's secretary. He also had separate combination scenes with notable screen time and screen presence featuring alongside ensemble cast of including Kamal Haasan, Meena, Gemini Ganesan, Nassar, Nagesh and Manivannan in Avvai Shanmugi.^[16]

He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for his performance in Pasi (1979). He also received various state awards like Kalaimamani (1994) given by the then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.^[17] His other notable films included Sindhu Bhairavi (1985), Sri Raghavendrar (1985), Chatriyan (1990), Iruvar (1997), Aahaa..! (1997), Priyamaanavale (2000), Saamy (2003) and Kaavalan (2011).^[18] In K. Balachander's directorial, Sindhu Bhairavi (1985), he played the role as Gurumoorthy, a mridangam player. His performance as a mridangam player gained spotlight and his acting skills showing his emotional depth to elevate the circumstances of having been left out by mridangam band for his addiction to alcoholic consumption was also acclaimed by critics.^[19][13]

Ganesh was roped in as a cast member on the recommendation of Vijay for the film Thamizhan (2002) as the filmmakers and production crew were awaiting for a replacement to shoot a comedy track sequence.^[20] The on-screen pairing of Vijay and Delhi Ganesh gave the film Thamizhan a huge boost and their chemistry worked out in the comedy sequences. Ganesh's phrases "Cigaretta Niruthu, Enakku Discipline Thaan Mukkiyam" during his verbal arguments with Vijay in the comedy track sequences of Thamizhan became viral among fans.^[21]

It was revealed that he stopped acting in negative villainous roles after receiving harsh criticism from family audience for his negative role in television soap opera Chellamay which had Radhika Sarathkumar playing the main female lead.^[22] He also took notes from Cho Ramaswamy's article which published about why Delhi Ganesh was interested in taking up shady negative roles. He changed his mind and accepted negative role in Payasam which was a part of the anthology series Navarasa where he played the role of an envious old man being dejected with life experiences.^[23]

He also made an appearance in the short film What if Batman was from Chennai as a version of Alfred Pennyworth.^[24][25] In 2016, he had a brief role as the man who lodges complaint about his missing son, only later to find out that his son is dead in Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru under Karthick Naren's direction alongside Rahman.^[26] In 2015, he launched his first production venture, Ennul Aayiram (2016) which starred his son Maha in the leading role.^[27][28]

In 2021, Delhi Ganesh in an exclusive interview with The New Indian Express, insisted that he received acclaim and fame due to his frequent collaborations with Kamal Haasan.^[22] Ganesh was convinced by Kamal Haasan to play a fully fledged comic role, and as a result, Ganesh, based on Kamal's advice, performed as a comedian in Avvai Shanmugi.^[9]

In December 2023, he was conferred with the Gowri Manohari Award for his contributions to theatre and was honored at the 36th Winter Music Festival hosted by Sruthilaya Kendra, a trust founded by mridangam artist Karaikudi Mani.^[29] Delhi Ganesh also appeared in television soap operas and short films. His final appearance was in Indian 2 (2024).^[30][31]

Ganesh died in Chennai on 9 November 2024, at the age of 80.^[32][33][34]