Delhi Ganesh

Ganesan Mahadevan (1 August 1944 – 9 November 2024), known by his stage name Delhi Ganesh, was an Indian actor who mostly acted in supporting roles in Tamil cinema and serials. He was well known for the versatility of roles he played during his illustrious career. He acted in more than 400 films. He was given the stage name Delhi Ganesh by K. Balachander. He was introduced to Tamil film industry by K. Balachander through the film Pattina Pravesam.

Early life He was born as Ganesan on 1 August 1944 in Keezhapavur, a town in present-day Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. 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. He had an elder sister and a younger brother.

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.

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. 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. 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. 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). 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 Tamizh Padam (2010), with Delhi Ganesh himself went onto reprise his role. 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. His other notable films included Sindhu Bhairavi (1985), Sri Raghavendrar (1985), Chatriyan (1990), Iruvar (1997), Aahaa..! (1997), Priyamaanavale (2000), Saamy (2003) and Kaavalan (2011). 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. 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.

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.

He also made an appearance in the short film What if Batman was from Chennai as a version of Alfred Pennyworth. 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. In 2015, he launched his first production venture, Ennul Aayiram (2016) which starred his son Maha in the leading role.

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. 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.

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. Delhi Ganesh also appeared in television soap operas and short films. His final appearance was in Indian 2 (2024).

Death Ganesh died in Chennai on 9 November 2024, at the age of 80.

Filmography Tamil-language films

Hindi-language films

Dubbing artist + List of film dubbing credits Title Actor LanguageMazhalai PattalamVishnuvardhan Tamil47 NatkalChiranjeevi Kudumbam Oru KadambamPrathap PothenThanga MaganRaveendran Kaadhal DevathaiChiranjeevi Tamil (dubbed version)Devaraagam Nedumudi VenuVeeranLokesh

Television Serials

Web series

Dubbing artist

Accolades 1980 Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Best Actor - Pasi 1994 kalaimamani