My Bollywood debut is the best film in my career so far, says Ganesh Venkatram

While Ganesh Venkatram takes on cyber criminals in Inayathalam, his Bollywood debut Guns of Banaras will see him play a hardcore ruffian
My Bollywood debut is the best film in my career so far, says Ganesh Venkatram

He’s played everything from a boy-next-door in Abhiyum Naanum (2008) to a cop in films like Unnaipol Oruvan (2009) and Thani Oruvan (2015). But for his upcoming Bollywood debut, Guns of Banaras, Ganesh Venkatram chose to stray away from his goody-two- shoes image, and play a coke-addict aghori-tattooed ruffian. Directed by  Shekar Suri (a former associate of Ram Gopal Varma), the film is the official Hindi remake of the Dhanush-starrer Polladhavan (2007).


Elaborating on his character, the Chennai-based Ganesh says, “I play one of the antagonists, essentially the role Daniel Balaji played in the Tamil version. Just like Polladhavan explores the mafia flavour of North Madras, Guns of Benaras is set in the sacred city and deals with a drug issue,” adding that the challenging part was getting the Benarasi Hindi right. “We had a diction coach on the set and during dubbing too. But most of us who were unfamiliar with the accent made it a point to get to Benaras two weeks before we began shooting and practised conversing with the locals there.” 


The film has newcomer Karan Nath as the protagonist (Dhanush’s character) and Vinod Khanna and Zarina Wahab playing Karan’s parents. “It is really unfortunate that Vinod Khanna passed away before the film came out. He has done some wonderful work — sadly his last,” says the actor. The film is due for release in August and tells us that the film is his “career-best performance.”


Back in Kollywood, Ganesh has Inayathalam up for release next week, where he plays a cop who works with the cyber crime division to crack down on social media crimes. “I cannot think of a more appropriate time for the film to release. The plot is inspired by real-life cyber crime cases, and director duo Suresh and Shankar have thoroughly researched such cases,” he points out. The actor has also wrapped up 7Naatkal (due to release later this year), where he shares screen space with Prabhu as his adopted son. 

Inayathalam releases on May 12

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