Stalin, Google join fans to pay tributes on Sivaji Ganesan’s birth anniversary

While Google honoured him with a doodle, Stalin visited his memorial along with his cabinet colleagues and paid floral tributes to a decorated portrait of the actor, placed next to his life-size statue.

The Chief Minister also released a leaflet that traces the life and times of the late thespian, on the occasion.

Google featured an artistic image of Sivaji Ganesan, that reflected some of his well-known roles in Tamil cinema.

Ministers for Industries and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, Thangam Thenarasu and PK Sekar Babu respectively, sons of the actor Prabhu and Ram Kumar and noted Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu participated.

Google India tweeted “Today’s #GoogleDoodle honours the glorious legacy of Ganesan, who carried the crown as “Sivaji” with his portrayal of the 17th-century Indian king, and reigned over the screen for nearly five decades.”

Vikram Prabhu, grandson of Sivaji Ganesan said on his Twitter handle, “Here is the #Googledoodle honouring the Legend #SivajiGanesan on his 93rd birthday. Appreciate the people from Google India & their guest artist Noopur Rajesh Choksi for the doodle art. Another proud moment! Love him and miss him more every year!

Vikram Prabhu is also an actor and son of Prabhu.

Reformist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy conferred the title of ‘Sivaji’ on Ganesan, lauding him for his brilliant performance as the Maratha warrior king in a play (Shivaji Kanda Hindu Rajyam - Shivaji’s Hindu Rajya), authored by Dravidian icon and DMK founder CN Annadurai.

In Puducherry also, floral tributes were paid to Sivaji Ganesan on Friday. However, ministers and politicians could not garland the statue of the veteran actor as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force due to the local body election to be held from October 21.

Rich tributes were also paid to the thespian at different areas in the town by Sivaji and Prabhu fans associations to mark the occasion.