Ganesh Venkatram talks about playing braveheart Velu Thambi in freedom series

Chennai, Aug 23

In a DD National series titled 'Swaraj', Ganesh Venkatram plays Velu Thambi, the Dewan of Travancore between 1802 and 1809 who fought the East India Company in the Battle of Quilon and was betrayed by his own Maharaja.

The series, an episode of which is to air every Sunday at 9 p.m., celebates the 75th anniversary of India's Independence and brings to life the inspiring stories of the freedom struggle's unsung heroes. It will soon be aired in multiple languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and English, and stream on a popular OTT platform as well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet ministers recently attended a special screening of the series.

Talking to IANS, Ganesh said: "Swaraj marks 75 years of India's Independence. It will run for 75 episodes. I got an opportunity to play Velu Thambi and it was wonderful to explore his life and exploits. As an actor, I have always aspired to play a powerful character from the annals of Indian history -- a braveheart, a warrior, and the experience has been truly fulfilling.

"Our history is replete with so many untold stories of valour that young people must be told about. Velu Thambi is a character I have only read about and watching his stories unfold on screen should be an interesting experience for the audience."

On the work front, the actor has completed shooting for a multilingual project 'Sabari', in which he is paired opposite Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, and is not shooting for 'Varisu', starring Vijay, and being directed by Vamshi.