Prolific Tamil writer Sujatha passes away

S. Rangarajan, who wrote under the pen name, Sujatha, was known for his versatility in writing. He had a way with words, whether it meant writing short stories, science fiction, plays, pieces on history or screenplay for films.
He played a significant role in taking information on trends in science and technology to the common man through his simple articles.
An engineer, Sujatha was instrumental in designing and producing the Electronic Voting Machine when he was working with Bharat Electronics.
His columns for Tamil weeklies such as Ananda Vikadan, Kumudam and Kalki were widely read and fetched him numerous fans in all age groups. He had drawn thousands of youngsters to Tamil literature with his lucid and engaging style.

Born at Triplicane, Chennai, Sujatha had an exciting childhood at Srirangam, near Tiruchi, where he grew up under the care of his paternal grandmother.
After his schooling at the Boys High School, Srirangam, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in physics at St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, where he and former president Abdul Kalam were classmates.
He then did his engineering in electronics at the Madras Institute of Technology.
Many of his pieces reflected his academic background, especially those of the science fiction genre.
All the same, his writing was very accessible to all kinds of readers.
Informative
Playwright Crazy Mohan, who visited the writer recently, said, “He is one of the most multi-faceted writers in Tamil. His writing was terrific, consistent and extremely informative. He could write just about anything with amazing ease. Sujatha was certainly a genius.”

Biography
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. He was also a contributor to topical columns in Tamil periodicals such as Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam and Kalki. He has a wide readership, 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 which is currently used in elections throughout India.
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 schooling was in Srirangam. He attended St.Joseph's College, Trichy, where he was classmate with 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.

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.

Engineering career

He worked first in Civil Aviation Department of Government of India and later for Bharat Electronics in Bangalore, India before his retirement to Chennai, India, where he lives today. As an engineer, he was a forward thinker and enabled many engineers to think ahead of times. He enabled the development of advanced word processing before the days of personal computers.[citation needed]

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[citation needed].

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, petrathum" in Anantha vikatan and "Sujatha Bathilgal" in Kungumam

Interests

His interests include archeology, astrophysics, Biotechnology, neuroscience, Carnatic music, Tamil literature, sociology.

Contribution to Films

Apart from being an author, he has also extended his writing skills and expertise on science to movies. the first of his were gayathiri and priya. In Priya his fictional charecter Ganesh comes to the screen done by superstar Rajinikanth but without vasanth (because the actor who was supposed to play vasanth did not get passport). Kamal Hassan's Vikram, which 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, Aaitha 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 before passing away on Feb 27, 2008.