Undeniably late veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan is one of the legendary actors that the Tamil industry has produced. Kollywood still praises his charisma and his acting capabilities. Now, Bollywood’s top actor, none other than Amitabh Bachchan, has professed his respect and claimed that he is a ‘disciple’ of Sivaji.
Sharing a picture from a scene in Uyarntha Manithan, his upcoming bilingual film with co-actor SJ Suryah, the actor tweeted, “Two disciples under the shadow of the MASTER - Shivaji Ganesan .. Surya and self ! Shivaji the Ultimate Iconic Legend of Tamil Cinema .. his picture adorns the wall .. my respect and admiration ,i touch his feet !” (sic).
Interestingly, a part of the tweet was in Tamil.
T 3141 - Two disciples under the shadow of the MASTER - Shivaji Ganesan ..
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 3, 2019
Surya and self !
Shivaji the Ultimate Iconic Legend of Tamil Cinema .. his picture adorns the wall .. my respect and admiration , i touch his feet !
அவர் மாஸ்டர் .. நாம் அவருடைய சீடர்கள் pic.twitter.com/u4dGGQE1Bd
However, this is not the first time that the actor has openly declared his admiration for Sivaji. He has earlier admitted that he could never fit into his shoes. The Bollywood legend had remade Sivaji’s film Kai Kodutha Deivam in Hindi as Pyaar Ki Kahani in Hindi. In a blog post written in 2015, recalling his struggle for playing Sivaji’s character in the film, he had said, “Shivaji Ganesan, who has left behind some of the most prolific performances, not just for the South to admire but indeed the entire film Industry of the country. I did my first Hindi film in the South, which was a remake of a Shivaji Ganesan film ‘kaikudhta deivam’, and the amount of trouble I had during its making, not being able to even reach an inch of the work that was done by Shivaji in the original.”
He went on to write, “ I never stopped touching his feet thereafter at every meeting. He was paired with the extraordinary talent of Savithri his leading lady - an exceptional artist, the likes of which you never get to see nowadays.”
Uyarntha Manithan is a bilingual film made in both Hindi and Tamil. This film will mark the debut of actor-director SJ Suryah in Bollywood. Suryah was last seen in Vijay’s Mersal. The film is being directed by Tamilvanan, who had previously directed Suryah in Kalavanin Kaadhali.