Sujatha
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| 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 |
Sujatha (May 3, 1935 - Feb 27, 2008, Aged: 72) 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.
An engineer by profession, 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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Education
His schooling was in 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) and masters degree 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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]
[edit] Works of Sujatha
(1) Eppothum Penn (Always a women)- A tamil novel similar to the work of Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex.
(2) En Iniya Iyandhira (I & II) (My Dear Machine) - A Sci-fi novel in Tamil involving robots.
(3) Jeano series-Jeano and meendum Jeano
(4) Sorga Theevu (famous Ganesh & Vasanth characters born in this)
(5) En? Etharku? Eppadi? (Answers to questions by readers, mostly on science)
(6) Katrathum petrathum<br /> He is one of Inventors of the Electronic Voting Machine, which is widely used in the General Elections in India
[edit] 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]. He also written Kandalur Vasanthakumaran Kathai novel
[edit] 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 Kungumam
[edit] Interests
His interests include archeology, astrophysics, Biotechnology, neuroscience, Carnatic music, Tamil literature, sociology.
[edit] 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 Robot(based on his novels 'En Iniya Iyanthra'(My dear Robot) and 'Jeano') before passing away on Feb 27, 2008.
