

Starting off with Parasakthi (1952 film) he has acted in about 300 films in his career. Born as Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan he was named 'Sivaji' after his impressive stage performance as Shivaji, the Maratha king. While naming the renowned actor of the Tamil film industry one can never forget Sivaji Ganesan. His first film as the lead actor was Manampol Mangalyam in 1954.

But surprisingly it was in a role of an anti hero in Thai Ullam that he was noticed. His debut film in the Tamil films was Miss Malini. In 1971 he was honored with the Padma Shri by the Indian Government. He ruled the box office from 1950s to 1970s. He was nicknamed 'kadhal mannan' (king of love). The first great Tamil actor would definitely be Gemini Ganesan. This is one of the reasons why Tamil actors can be of a lot of help to the political parties. What is more impressive is the amount of fan following that these actors have. Most of the actors are known to experiment with their work early in their career, for instance both Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth have delved into anti-hero roles almost at the beginning of their careers. The prolific actors have helped this film industry to grow in leaps and bounds. Some of the most talented actors in Indian cinema hail from Kollywood. Tamil film industry or Kollywood is an integral part of the Indian film industry.
