Ganesh Venkatram to make his TV comeback with Ninaithen Vandhai

Ganesh Venkatram, who was last seen in director Guru Ramanujam’s Red Sandalwood, is returning on television with Ninaithen Vandhai. The show, which is helmed by Brahma G Dev, features Keerthana Podhuval and Jasmine Rath as the leading ladies and will air on Zee Tamil by the end of January.

Thrilled about his comeback, the Varisu actor says, “I began my acting career on television with Antariksh and the fantasy adventure thriller Mayavi. The decision or the drive to be part of a compelling story was made during the pandemic. We were all cooped up at home and my daughter, who was barely two years old at that time, didn’t have a plethora of options to watch on television. She heavily relied on anime and cartoons.”

He adds, “For shows that we could watch as a family, we had to fall back on veteran director K Balachander’s Kai Alavu Manasu, Azhagan and The Sound of Music. That’s when I realised that there was a major lacuna in family-oriented content. Though we also have the option of OTT, these platforms have been primarily streaming bold, violent and explicit content, which are predominantly targetted at the youth.”

Spilling beans on the show, Ganesh says, “I play Dr Ezhil, who runs a super speciality hospital in the city. All is hunky-dory in his life until one day his wife meets with a fatal accident. Ezhil’s life turns topsy-turvy and he is entrusted with the responsibility of becoming the sole caretaker of their four children. How he undergoes the travails of being a single parent forms the crux of the story. Soon, he sets out on a mission to find a caretaker for the children. But when he finds one, he discovers that she comes with her share of baggage.”

He adds, “Interestingly, to play Ezhil, the references I looked at were again from the bygone era. Take for instance, Rajinikanth sir’s Raja Chinna Roja. And this affirmed my belief about the paucity of family-oriented content on television. I have been juggling my time between the film sets and Ninaithen Vandhai.”

On the  film front, Ganesh is part of Hari and Vishal’s next, Mysskin’s Train and Noah Abraham’s web series Gangs, which stars Ashokselvan in the lead.

You can contact the writer over email at sangeetha.p@newindianexpress.com and follow her on Twitter @psangeetha2112