Kalaimamani Delhi Ganesh
Personal details
Born	Ganesan Mahadevan (1944-08-01)1 August 1944 Keezhapavur, Tinnevely District, Madras Province, British India (now inTenkasi district, Tamil Nadu, India)
Died	9 November 2024(2024-11-09) (aged 80) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Spouse	Thangam Ganesh
Children	3
Profession	IAFCorporal (Retired), Actor (1976-2024)
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Air Force
Years of service	1964–1974
Rank	Corporal
Battles/wars	1965 Indo-Pakistani war(auxiliary) 1971 Indo-Pakistani war(auxiliary)

Ganesan Mahadevan (1 August 1944 – 9 November 2024), known by hisstage nameDelhi Ganesh, was an Indian actor who mostly acted in supporting roles inTamil cinema and serials. He was well known for the versatility of roles he played during his illustrious career.^[1] He acted in more than 400 films. He was given the stage name Delhi Ganesh byK. Balachander.^[2] He was introduced to Tamil film industry by K. Balachander through the filmPattina Pravesam (1976).

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

After completingSSLC, Ganesan went toMadurai and worked inTVS Motor Company. Then, he was recruited by theIndian Air Force (IAF) and served from 1964 to 1974. During this time, he went on to become aCorporal, and was deputed as an auxiliary personnel inJammu and Kashmir during the1965 and1971Indo-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 joinedKathadi Ramamurthi’s troupe. During his stint there, he received breakthrough for portraying the role ofKuselar in the playDowry Kalyana Vaibhogame.^[9] Ganesh's performance as Kuselar eventually caught the attention of director K. Balachander, who eventually cast Ganesh in his directorial venturePattina 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 filmEngamma Maharani. He was best known for his recurring collaborations withKamal Haasan includingNayakan (1987),Apoorva Sagodharagal (1989),Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990),Avvai Shanmugi (1996) andThenali (2001). He played as an ideal foil to Kamal Haasan in most of his films by emotionally connecting with the audience through hismannerism, 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]

InMani Ratnam's directorial,Nayakan (1987), he brought the range of acting skills to a different dimension where he featured as aBrahmin 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 fromNayakan inGautham Vasudev Menon's directorial ventureVendhu 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 asApoorva Sagodharargal (1989).^[15] His menacing villainous role inApoorva Sagodharargal as Francis Anbarasu became talk of the town indicating the versatility in Delhi Ganesh's range of acting skills. Appu eventually used aRube Goldberg Machine to kill Francis Anbarasu inApoorva Sagodharargal and the sequence became widely popular upon the release ofApoorva Sagodharargal, which was later parodied inC. S. Amudhan's directorial ventureThamizh Padam (2010), with Delhi Ganesh himself went onto reprise his role.^[16]

InSingeetam 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 toCrazy Mohan for writing the screenplay, which fetched the former's role an equal importance similar to the roles allocated to other cast members inMichael Madana Kama Rajan.^[16] InK. S. Ravikumar's directorial,Avvai Shanmugi (1996), he played the role of Sethurama Iyer, where he was also seen asGemini 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 andManivannan inAvvai Shanmugi.^[16]

He won theTamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for his performance inPasi (1979). He also received various state awards likeKalaimamani (1994) given by the then Chief MinisterJ. Jayalalithaa.^[17] His other notable films includedSindhu Bhairavi (1985),Sri Raghavendrar (1985),Chatriyan (1990),Iruvar (1997),Aahaa..! (1997),Priyamaanavale (2000),Saamy (2003) andKaavalan (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 ofVijay for the filmThamizhan (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 filmThamizhan 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 ofThamizhan 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 operaChellamay which hadRadhika Sarathkumar playing the main female lead.^[22] He also took notes fromCho 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 inPayasam which was a part of the anthology seriesNavarasa where he played the role of an envious old man being dejected with life experiences.^[23]

He also made an appearance in the short filmWhat if Batman was from Chennai as a version ofAlfred 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 inDhuruvangal Pathinaaru underKarthick 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 withThe 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 inAvvai 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 bymridangam artistKaraikudi Mani.^[29] Delhi Ganesh also appeared in television soap operas and short films. His final appearance was inIndian 2 (2024).^[30][31]

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

• The Hindu article
• Delhi Ganesh atIMDb

• 1944 births
• 2024 deaths
• Tamil male actors
• Indian male television actors
• Indian male film actors
• People from Tirunelveli district
• Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
• Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award
• Indian Air Force personnel
• Tamil male television actors
• Television personalities from Tamil Nadu
• Male actors from Tamil Nadu
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• Male actors from Delhi

• CS1 uses Tamil-language script (ta)
• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
• CS1 Punjabi-language sources (pa)
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2014