Governor Rosaiah at Sivaji's 84th birth anniversary event

A colourful event to mark 'Nadigar Thilagam' Sivaji Ganesan’s 84th birth anniversary was held at the Music Academy, Chennai, on Oct.1 under the auspices of the Sivaji Prabhu Charities Trust. Tamil Nadu Governor Dr. K. Rosaiah was the chief guest.

One of the highlights was a short AV on the versatility of Sivaji and his amazing acting skills with an audio byte from a recorded interview with him.

Prabhu said it was at the instance of Lata Mangeshkar that the trust has instituted an award in his father’s name (Sivaji Ganesan Memoria Award). Recipients of the award are director K. Balachander, thavil vidwan Valayapatti A.R. Subramaniam, actors K.V. Srinivasan and Kanchana and media person T.S. Narayanaswami.

Paying tributes to the late thespian, Governor Rosaiah said,” I may have not been a close friend of the great actor, but like all of you I love him.”

“I have not gone to the cinemas for 40 years now. But I went to watch ‘Veerapandiya Kattabomman’ four times,” Dr. Rosaiah exulted.

Prabhu’s brother Ramkumar welcomed the gathering and Prabhu spoke on the activities of the trust.