Actor Sivaji Ganesan's memorial to be unveiled on October 1

A memorial in honour of legendary Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan will be unveiled here on October 1, his birth anniversary, Tamil Nadu government said today.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami has issued an order to this effect, an official release here said.

The memorial, built at a cost of Rs 2.80 crore at Adyar locality, will be unveiled by Information and Publicity Minister Kadambur C Raju, it `said.

Sivaji Ganesan's family members, celebrities from the film industry, Ministers, MPs and MLAs will take part in the event to be presided over by Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar.

In 2015, then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had announced in the Assembly that a memorial will be built honouring Sivaji Ganesan, who ruled the Tamil film world since 1950s.

A winner of the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke award, Ganesan had acted in over 300 films most of which were big hits. He passed away on July 21, 2001.

The 28,300 sq ft memorial has been built by the Public Works Department in the Dravidian style of architecture.

A bronze statue of the late actor, removed from Kamarajar Salai abutting the Marina Beach here following a court directive, will be unveiled at the memorial on Oct 1.

'Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Samooga Nala Peravai,' a social welfare body run by the actor's fans, said the statue should have been unveiled by the Chief Minister.

Palaniswami not declaring open the memorial would mean disrespecting the late actor, it said.

"If the Chief Minister does not have time, the memorial could be declared open by a senior film artiste," head of the outfit, K Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

He said the memorial for late Kannada top actor Rajkumar was opened by the Chief Minister of that state.

"Tamil Nadu government should open the memorial in a grand manner and invite all the political parties and film actors, and if it is not done, fans and the Tamil people will not forgive them (the AIADMK regime)," he said.