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Noted Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, popularly called by his feminine pen name Sujatha, who was also one of the designers of the electronic voting machine, has died here. He was 72.
The prolific writer suffered form renal disorder and died Wednesday night at a private hospital. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Born May 3, 1935 as S. Rangarajan, he grew up in the temple town of Srirangam and studied at St. Joseph’s College in Tiruchirapally. A contemporary of former President A P J Abdul Kalam in Tiruchi St Joseph’s College.
He was an engineer and worked as a government servant in New Delhi for a long time. He later worked for Bharat Electronics.
He adopted his wife Sujatha’s name as pen name when he began writing fiction. He authored more than 100 books, penned popular columns in Ananda Vikatan and Kanaiyazhi magazines.
A versatile writer of short stories, novels, screenplays and dialogues, Sujatha pioneered science fiction in Tamil. In fact, the genre owes his existence in Tamil to Sujatha.
His science books have been released as separate publications called “En”, “Etharku”, “Eppadi” and “Athisaya Ulagam”.
His ability to explain science in simple terms to lay readers was unparalleled. He brought freshness to Tamil writing on diverse subjects like archaeology, astrophysics, biotechnology and ancient Tamil literature.
Sujatha wrote about 100 novels and 200 short stories, essays, stage plays, and popular articles on science. His columns in well-known Tamil journals like Ananda Vikatan and Kumudam were widely read. He was editor of Kumudam for sometime.
Sujatha’s novel Srirangathu Devathaigal (Angels of Srirangam) was a famous series based on the life in the temple town in the 1950s.
His short stories Kakida Sanghilgal (Paper Chains) brought out the emotions of a family drama.
He also wrote screenplays for the films “Uyire” and “Pirivom Sandhippom“.
Sujatha wrote the screenplay and dialogues for Rajnikanth-starrer Sivaji and under-production film Dasavatharam featuring Kamal Haasan in 10 roles. He also wrote the story for Kandukonden Kandukonden, the critically acclaimed Tamil film directed by Rajiv Menon.Among the award-winning films that he wrote dialogue for were Mani Ratnam pics such as 2002’s “A Peck on the Cheek,” 1998’s “From the Heart” & 2004’s “Ayitha ezhuthu”.
Sujatha also gave a rebirth to the long lost tradition of short stories in Tamil by penning about them, and also them.
He also tried his best to infuse some fresh air into the moribund Tamil theatre by his daring and different dramas (made primarily for Poornam Vishwanathan).
Ninaithaley Inikkum, Karaiyellam Senbagpoo,a murder mystery set deliciously amidst the swirls of folksy limericks, Vikram, Roja, Kannathil Muthamittal, Kandukondein Kandukondein, Mudhalvan, Anniyan, down to Sivaji (and he was also working on Dasvatharam, Robot) were some of his popular works that readily come to mind.
And after 90s, when Sujatha perhaps ran out of literary steam, he chose to re-invent himself as a honest and humour-filled diarist by falling back on his vast experience and vaster exposure.
Though enigmatic and open-ended about his views on God, Sujatha’s writings on Vaishnavite literature and a few other religious texts are treasures of these times.
A knowledge and information fiend of sorts, his Why, What for, How (En, Etharku, Eppadi), catechistic column in a Tamil magazine, proved to the google for Tamilians in the pre-google days.
He provided a window through his columns to up and coming writers and also help spread the gospel of technology good things in life.
And perhaps these small human blips added to his overall charm. But even when he was writing on politics, he was devoid of politics or malice that can somehow creep in when writing about contemporary affairs.
Sujatha borrowed his wife’s name for his writing career. But nothing else was borrowed about him. He was a pioneer par excellence.
Sujatha disabused the sense of high-brow exclusivity of both Tamil and technology and amicably introduced each to the other. Kamban and kanipori can co-exist happily ever after. More importantly, if the common man identified with Sujatha the writer, Sujatha himself, with his regular servings of luscious slices of literary pies, helped bring out the writer in many common men.
Himself an electronics engineer from IIT-Madras, Sujatha was General Manager (Research and Development) in BEL and instrumental in designing the Electronic Voting Machines extensively used in Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
A couple of decades ago when there was suspicion about the fool-proof nature of the EVMs, Sujatha took great pains to explain the efficacy of the machines.
It was as a writer of class that he made his name in Tamil literary circles.
It is interestingly tempting to think how ‘Sujatha‘ Rangarajan, who passed away last night at the age of 73, would have worded his own obituary.
And there cannot be a greater tribute to him, and there cannot be a better and lasting legacy than this. Sujatha, maybe dead. But many Sujathas are alive. In that sense, in his death, Sujatha may possibly have become his best sci-fiction offering ever!