Brief Interview with stunt choreographer Ganesh

Only Kollywood interacted with stunt master Ganesh, whose recent film Naaigal Jaakirathai is received well across-the-board. He talks about his tryst with the industry, his upcoming films and more. 

Tell us about the early days of your career. 

I started my career by working in films like Rajinikanth’s Padaiyappa and Karthik’s Ullathai Allitha. An opposition group called Padaippali surfaced against FEFSI here few years back. During that time, I moved to Andhra Pradesh and did few Telugu films. I worked with cinematographer-turned-director Siva in his Telugu films Souryam and Sankam, where Gopichand played the lead role in both films. When Siva debuted as a director in Tamil cinema with Siruthai, I worked as the stunt master for the film. That’s how I made my debut in Kollywood. Later I went on to work in Saravanan’s Engeyum Eppothum, which was highly praised for its content.

Working in Ajith, Dhanush and Vishal films

Ganesh choreographed the higg-octane climax fights of Ajith – Siva’s Veeram, Dhanush – Hari’s Vengai and Vishal – Sundar C’s temporarily-shelved Madha Gaja Raja. He joined hands with Karthi again for Alex Pandian. Recently, I choreographed stunts for Vijay Vasanth’s Yennamo Nadakkuthu. I also worked in a handful of Kannada films including top stars like Sudeep of Naan Ee fame.

Upcoming Films

My upcoming films include Sudeep’s next in Kannada and a Tamil film called Sathuran.  I’m also working in a Punjabi film and eagerly looking forward to foray into Bollywood soon. And, he is pinning high hopes on Om Shanthi Om directed by Surya Prabakaar and is also in talks for Yennamo Nadakuthu team’s next film Sigandi. 

Kamal Haasan’s Sathya connection

Interestingly, Ganesh’s family has been associated with stunts for three generations. His grandfather Krishna has worked in a lot of Telugu films and his father Ramu is also a stuntman, who has worked in films such as Kamal Haasan’s Sathya and Raj Kiran’s Aranmanai Kili. Now, Ganesh is carrying forward the legacy of his father and grandfather in a calm and composed way, but ironically by performing and staging stunts.

Most treasured recognition

Ganesh considers Siva’s Siruthai as his most recognised work next to Saravanan’s Engeyum Eppothum where the bus-colliding accident was highly raved about.

His recent film – Naaigal Jaakirathai

Ganesh says Sibiraj is the most frequent victim of Idoh, the Belgian Shepherd dog which bit him every now and then during the shooting. Though the scenes involving Idoh were taken care of by a different team, the stunts in the film were masterminded by Ganesh and he is quite happy with the film’s reviews and appreciations so far. “Our hard work has been paid off,” he says.