| Sujatha (Tamil: சுஜாதா) | |
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| Born | S.Rangarajan May 3, 1935 Triplicane, Chennai, India |
| Died | February 27, 2008 (aged 72) Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India |
| Pen name | Sujatha |
| Occupation | Engineer, Writer, Novelist |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Spouse(s) | Sujatha Rangarajan |
| Children | Kesava prasad, Ranga prasad |
| Official website | |
Sujatha (May 3, 1935 - February 27, 2008) was the pseudonym of the Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular writers in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil periodicals such as Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam and Kalki. He had a wide readership, and served for a brief period as the editor of Kumudam, and has also written screenplays and dialogues for several Tamil movies.
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A path breaker in all senses, he had a great influence in the Tamil literary (both modern and traditional) scene for over four decades. An engineer by profession, he possessed the rare combination of being proficient in Tamil (literary, contemporary, modern) as well as in Technology. Widely read and knowledgeable, he presented all his knowledge in simple Tamil and inspired a whole generation.
He came as a breath of fresh air during a time when Tamil writing was dominated by social/family dramas or historical novels. His unique style of writing with the uncanny adoption and identification with the masses - their way of talking, behavior, mindset and the slang included in his writings made him immensely popular cutting across demographic segments.
His contribution to the popularization of technology is immense - starting with his Silicon Chip writing in Dinamani Kadhir and Yen, Yedharku, Eppadi in Junior Vikatan - he seemed to have time for anything and everything. At one point of time his writing alone sold most of the Tamil weeklies and Journals - he was writing in Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam, Kungumam, Kalki and Dhinamani Kadhir almost simultaneously. Later he contributed as script/screenplay writer in several Tamil movies. His notable movies include Vikram, Thiruda Thiruda, Boys and Sivaji. Most of his early novels/stories are made as movies - notable include Priya, Gaytri, Karaiyellam Senbagapoo...
Versatile and gifted he will be mostly remembered for variety of novels, stories, essays he contributed. He introduced Haiku poetry to the Tamil audience. Brought up in Srirangam, Trichy and who spent most of the later part of life in Bangalore he described both the places vividly in his various writings. Among his popular novels are Pirivom Sandhipom (not related to the recent movie on the same name), Rathham ore niram, Kolaiyudhir Kaalam among others.
Last but not least, he immortalized Ganesh-Vasanth - the imaginary advocate pair being the main characters in most of his detective, semi-detective stories. Ganesh being a level-headed, senior advocate with Vasanth being his flirtatious Junior advocate made a fascinating reading in most of the contemporary situations his novels dealt with. The Ganesh-Vasanth pair is a based on James Hadley Chase's characters, Vic Malloy and his side-kick.
In his later days he restricted his writing to essays such as Katradhum-Petradhum which again was a hit with audience. He was more into reading in his later days especially on the old rare Tamil writings as well as the latest developments on IT and computing.
As an engineer, he supervised the design and production of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) during his tenure in Bharat Electronics Limited which is currently used in elections throughout India. As a writer he inspired many authors such as Balakumaran.
Biography
Sujatha (Rangarajan) was born in Triplicane, Chennai but spent his childhood in Srirangam near Tiruchirapalli under the care of his paternal grandmother owing to the frequent transfers of his father in his job.
Education
His did his schooling in Srirangam Boys High School, Srirangam. He attended St. Joseph's College, Trichy, where he was a classmate of Abdul Kalam (who later became the President of India). Sujatha graduated in the 1954 class with a B.Sc in Physics (1952-54). Later he did his engineering in Electronics from the Madras Institute of Technology. His writing interests were largely inspired by the short stories and serials published in popular Tamil magazines.
Early Writings
Sriranganthu Devathaigal (Angels of Srirangam) is a series of short stories based on incidents unfolded in that part of the world in 1940's and 50's. Sivaji, a minor magazine from Trichy published a story during his student days. His first short story was published in Kumudam magazine in 1962. His Kolaiyuthir Kalam was an exciting ghost related novel.
Engineering career
He worked first in Civil Aviation Department of Government of India and later for Bharat Electronics Limited in Bangalore, India before his retirement to Chennai, India, where he lived till his last days. As an engineer, he was a forward thinker and he was the key person behind the development of the Electronic Voting Machine in India[1] and also enabled many engineers to think ahead of times. He initiated the development of advanced word processing before the days of personal computers.[citation needed]
Gallery
 Abdul Kalam and Sujatha in College photo. Sujatha, encircled in blue, Kalam in red. |
 Sujatha zoomed in his school photo shown above |
Works of Sujatha
(1) Eppothum Penn (Always a woman) - A Tamil novel influenced by Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex.
(2) En Iniya Iyandhira (My Dear Machine) - A Sci-fi novel in Tamil involving robots. The novel features Nila, Ravi, Mano, Jeano - a robo dog. The story is written like everything is happening in 2020 A.D.
(3) Meendum Jeano- a sequel to En Iniya Iyandhira
(4) Sorga Theevu - This is considered as one of the first Science Fictions in Tamil
(5) En? Etharku? Eppadi? (Answers to questions by readers, mostly on science)
(6) Katrathum petrathum (I ,II & III)
(7) Kolaiyuthir Kaalam - (roughly translated to "The Autumn of Murders") - One of his famous detective novels in Tamil, that came as a series in Kumudam, featuring Ganesh and Vasanth. It was also made into a television serial and was aired by Doordarshan's Podhigai channel
(8) Raththam Ore Niram - A historical novel.
(9) Pirivom Sandhipom - Part I and Part II - A Love story set in Tamiraparani and then travels to Newyork. Captures glimpse of NRI Tamils life in early 80's. A precursor to Jeans movie. Incidentally the heroines name is Madhumitha in both the works.
(10) Nylon Kayiru(nylon thread).
(11) Anitha Ilam Manaivi -a crime story.
(12) Thoondil kathaigal - a compilation of short stories.
(13) Srirangathu Kathaigal a series of short stories c featuring Sujatha's experiences as a boy, a youth and a man in Srirangam, depicting incidents when he was staying in his grandma's house in Srirangam.
- The works are not in Chronological order.
Awards
Sujatha received an award from Govt of India's National Council for Science and Technology in 1993 for making Science accessible to the public through his books, magazine contributions and other media[2].
Style and influence
Sujatha was a versatile Tamil writer, with several short stories, novels, poems, plays, screenplays for movies, articles in popular science other non-fiction articles, to his credit. Sujatha has written a number of science fiction stories in Tamil and has sought to explain science in very simple terms to a layman. He routinely used to answer science questions in magazines like Junior Vikatan. His science FAQ has been released as separate books called En, Etharku, Eppadi and Athisaya Ulagam by Vikatan publications.
He worked on "Katradhum, Petradhum" in Anantha vikatan and "Sujatha Bathilgal" in Kumudam and Kungumam
Interests
His interests include archeology, astrophysics, Biotechnology, neuroscience, Carnatic music, Tamil literature, sociology.
Contribution to Films
Besides being an author, he also extended his writing skills and expertise from science to movies. The first of these efforts were Gaayathri and Priya. In Priya, his fictional character Ganesh is played by Rajinikanth but without Vasanth, the famous colleague of Ganesh. Kamal Hassan's Vikram was written by him. He penned dialogues for the movie 'Roja' (directed by Maniratnam). In recent times he has been associated with Mani Ratnam (for Iruvar, Kannathil Muthamittal, Aayitha Ezhuthu etc) and Shankar (Boys, Anniyan, Indian, Mudhalvan, Sivaji). He was also a co-producer for the banner MediaDreams which went on to produce critically acclaimed bio-pic, Bharathi, of the great Tamil poet Bhaarathiyaar.
He was working on Shankar's Endhiran (based on his novels 'En Iniya Iyanthra'(My dear Robot) and 'Jeano') before he died on February 27, 2008.
References
External links
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