Early career: 1951–1953 Ganesan lent his voice to
Mukkamala Krishna Murthy, a Telugu actor, for the Tamil film
Niraparadhi (1951). He made his acting debut in the 1952
Tamil film
Parasakthi, which was directed by the
Krishnan–Panju duo and co-starred actress
Pandari Bai. The film became an instant commercial success, running for over 175 days in several theatres, and ran for over 50 days in all the 62 centres it was released, and at the Sri Lanka–based Mailan Theatre, it ran for nearly 40 weeks. Film distributor P. A. Perumal Mudaliar of
National Pictures, with the patronage of
A. V. Meiyappan of
AVM Productions, bought the film rights of
Parasakthi. P.A. Perumal cast Ganesan after being impressed with his performance as
Nur Jahan in the Sakthi Nadaga Sabha play of the same name. It was he who, in 1950, gave Ganesan a flight ticket to Madras for the screen test for
Parasakthi. Ganesan had simultaneously shot for the Telugu-Tamil bilingual film
Paradesi (titled
Poongothai in Tamil), which was supposed to be his actual film to release first, but released much later after Perumal requested its co-producer
Anjali Devi to let
Parasakthi release first, and she agreed. at a stage drama
Parasakthi did not begin well for Ganesan. When shooting began and 2000 feet of the film was shot, Meiyappan was dissatisfied with Ganesan's "thin" physique, and wanted him replaced with
K. R. Ramasamy. Perumal refused, and Ganesan was retained. Meiyappan was also satisfied with the final results of the film. The initial scenes of Ganesan which he earlier disliked were reshot. Ganesan was paid a monthly salary of 250 (valued at about US$52.5 in 1952) for acting in the film.The script was written by later
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,
M. Karunanidhi. Secondly, the 1950s saw the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, under the leadership of
C. N. Annadurai, and
M. Karunanidhi. Their transformation of language skills to films through script writing ensured their instant acceptance.
Donning versatile roles: 1954–1969 Andha Naal (1954) was a trendsetter in Tamil cinema because it had no songs and Ganesan played an anti-hero. The film won the president's silver medal the following year. The same year, he co-starred with his competitor
M. G. Ramachandran in
Koondukkili, where he played the antagonist. His role in the film
Veerapandiya Kattabomman won him the Best Actor Award at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in March 1960 at
Cairo. Incidentally, Ganesan was also the first Indian actor to get an award for Best Actor abroad. Often considered to be a landmark film in Tamil cinema,
Pasamalar is arguably one of the best films of Sivaji Ganesan and Savitri together. Once again directed by A Bhimsingh, the film has a cult following and rightly so. When it released in 1961, it became a trendsetter of sorts and was a money spinner at the box-office. Post its release, several films based on a similar theme were made, for example,
Mullum Malarum. It also won the National Award that year and was remade in several languages.
Uthama Puthiran is the first film to feature Ganesan in dual roles and the first Indian film to have the shots with zoom technique. Sivaji Ganesan has acted in many Tamil movies co-starring with many popular and talented Tamil actresses of his time. He gave many commercial success films such as
Palum Pazhamum,
Irumbu Thirai,
Padikkadha Medhai,
Paava Mannippu,
Padithal Mattum Podhuma,
Aalayamani,
Iruvar Ullam,
Annai Illam,
Aandavan Kattalai,
Kappalottiya Thamizhan,
Kai Koduttha Dheivam,
Puthiya Paravai and his 100th film,
Navarathri whereby ganesan acted nine distinct roles in the film. It is arguably one of Sivaji Ganesan's best films in its tribute to the actor. He had comedic roles in several movies, such as
Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari (1954),
Sabaash Meena (1958),
Ooty Varai Uravu (1967), and
Galatta Kalyanam (1968). His portrayal of
Lord Shiva in the movie
Thiruvilayadal (1965) won him many accolades. Ganesan could strike a balance between commercial cinema, Mythological cinema and experimental cinema. His epical portrayals in films such as
Thiruvilayaadal,
Thiruvarutselvar,
Saraswati Sabatham,
Thirumal Perumai and
Thillana Mohanambal won him critical acclaim. and epic characters like
Karna,
Bharatha,
Narada,
Appar,
Nayanmars and
Alwars. Spanning genres like epics to Crime thrillers; from romantic escapades to comic flicks and action flicks, Ganesan has covered it all.
Superstardom – varied roles: 1970–1979 Ganesan played supporting role to
Rajendra Kumar in the
Hindi film Dharti in 1970, which was a remake of his 1969 Tamil film
Sivandha Mann, in which he played the lead role. In the Hindi version, Ganesan played the role which
Muthuraman had played in the original. Several directors such as
Krishnan–Panju,
T. R. Sundaram,
T. R. Ramanna,
A. P. Nagarajan,
L. V. Prasad,
B. R. Panthulu,
T. Prakash Rao,
D. Yoganand,
A. Bhim Singh,
K. Shankar,
C. V. Sridhar,
A. C. Tirulokchandar,
P. Madhavan,
K. S. Gopalakrishnan,
Muktha V.Srinivasan,
C. V. Rajendran, and
K. Vijayan directed Ganesan in different roles.
Jaggayya offered his voice to Sivaji when his movies were dubbed into Telugu. In the 1960s and 1970s his films have been well received and he was able to deliver constant hits. Some of his famous hits during this period are
Vasantha Maligai,
Gauravam,
Thanga Pathakkam and
Sathyam. Many of his films inspired remakes in
Sinhalese. Films such as
Pilot Premnath and
Mohana Punnagai were shot in
Sri Lanka, with Sri Lankan actors such as
Malini Fonseka and
Geetha Kumarasinghe playing the female lead. == Mentor ==