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Farewell to Sujatha - a sad loss for all writers
Can’t write much, can’t talk much.
Just heard (or rather read) the news here
The key person behind the development of the Electronic Voting Machine and an eminent writer, S Rangarajan alias Sujatha, has died.
To be very honest, I have never read a single sujatha’s story (I cant read/write Tamil unfortunately). Although i do watch tamil films eagerly. And the films written by him …I’ve loved.
The article further adds on
Sujatha was a pioneer in the field of science fictions in Tamil. He also wrote short stories, novels, screenplays and columns in weeklies
Here’s some info from another site
His true name was Rangarajan, Sujatha being a pseudonym. He has written over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. His very first story featured in a magazine called Sivaji in 1953. His short story, Idadhu Orathil, was published in a Tamil magazine in 1962 and he soon became a regular contributor. His writings are well known and much-read.
I started hearing the name of this writer called ‘Sujatha’. Always wondered why he kept a feminine name when he is a guy.
And boy i loved most of the films he was a part of… he wrote the dialogues for. Here Im writing for the two that i can recollect
1. The first film to be seen was Indian - the one in which Kamal plays double roles. There were plenty of crowd pleasing moments and both the ‘elite clapping ones too’. I remember seeing the film as a young 13 yr old teeenager and was completly blown away by Kamal’s performance as the old man.. so much that the left side hair partition stayed with me for years (his hairstyle as the old man) !!!
Of course there was the corrupt street smart kamal as the son too and the “jhatka dikha diya tumko song” with ravishing urmila.
As i stepped out of the film, the first thing which stayed with me was kamal hassan (and have been a kamal fan since then). Now when i look and think back, every aspect and nuance of kamal’s ‘punch dialogues’, the corruption prevalent in all government offices and the shady dialogues, the street smart Kamal’s cocky lines, the investigative Cop (some brilliant malayalam actor i believe) with his incisive insights, Senthil - Koundamani’s comedy track and of course the entire flashback about INA freedom etc.. the film covers an entire range and gamut of emotions.
It mustve been pretty difficult to write for such a ‘masala yet message oriented’ film. I dunno how he wouldve done it. One of many of Shankar’s such films. A Big blockbuster hit.
2. Kannathil Muththamital (A Kiss on the Cheek)
The girl is missing. The grandfather goes to the school and threatens the teacher
“Where is my grand daughter ? Do you know our family knows the Comissioner of Police ??”
The teacher retorts - “Even the Commissioner of Police’s son studies here !!!”
The entire speech/poetry when Maddy is being dragged by the terrorists and eventually, the leader of the terrorist joins Maddy in finishing his poem recitatal. BRILLIANT ‘Mani sir’ scene and an equally brilliant execution.
When Maddy scolds a ‘fan’ of his who offers him a seat in the bus.
The usually oft used marriage scene of the bride (nandita das) and the banter that the girls indulge in, the first night …. Have been used so many times in manirathnam’s films, but Sujatha infuses freshness into the same.
The final confrontation of the girl Amutha with her biological mother - Nandita Das, who is now the terrorist. “Please come to madras, there aren’t bombs there like here in sri lanka. There are the beaches, the playgrounds, the cinema halls”
“Good writing comes through good education” !!!
The entire flashback with Maddy’s proposal to Simran and eventually to his would be father in law. “I want to adopt the destitute girl child Amutha but for that i need to be married. Hence I will first marry your daughter and then I will adopt Amudha. For the former I need your permission and for the latter I need your signature.”
Ahhh … what would mani sir do without him !!!
His other works include Kandukondein Kandokundein (I have found it), Boys, Ayuthe Ezhuthe(Yuva in Tamil), Sivaji (yes the dialogues for which you may have paid 1500 bucks first day first show, are his), Anniyan and Kamal’s magnum opus Dasavataram.
May his soul rest in peace. A huge loss for Tamil cinema and all aspiring writers.
22 Responses to “Farewell to Sujatha - a sad loss for all writers”
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//investigative Cop (some brilliant malayalam actor i believe)//
Nedumudi Venu..
Shit…Shit..
He was a phenomena. I really loved some of his work & see it as frequently as once a week. whether it was the soft pensive Kannathil Muthamittla or the super stardom dialogues of shivaji, you just had to love this really soft spoken personality. He had the pulse of his viewers in ways you would never comprehend.
I had the great fortune of meeting him in an airport several years back when I had trouble calling myself a writer as all my work was shite according to me and so asked him how to overcome this. I still remember what he told me then - “Who told you I have overcome it..My writing is also shit..It even now is. I am no good writer.” The humility, sagacity of the man left a deep impression on me.
I am really sad to hear this news and one of the good writers in Tamil has left.
Sir, RIP. God does not make people like you too often.
May his soul get peace.
May his writing skills enter in to the mind of some living young author involved in writing for films.
@ tanx sreehari
@ Deepak - thanks for the incident. WOW.. wat an insight into the life of the man.. Lucky you.
@ RK sahib, inshallah :-)
heard the news and am shocked!
only the week before…was reading his article in a Tamil Weekly…can’t believe he is no more.
Well…more than anything, he was a brilliant writer (his ganesh/vasant stories remain unforgettables) !
man! Tamil literature just suffered an irrevocable loss
it’s a sad day for all the fans.
Truely a sad day !!!
Truely a sad day !!!
What will Shankar do???
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May his soul rest in peace.
he was a fantastic man.. there was one time while writing for nayak, i wanted to change a scene and Shankar wasn’t sure(mudalvan was a huge success and they wanted to retain everything verbatim and while retaining things i wanted to make it more colloqial and spoken ), Mr.a.m. ratnam wanted to repeat everything as it is so sujatha was called as shankar trusted his opinion and unlike shankar sujatha spoke fluent hindi.. sujatha started to listen to what i wanted to do and then stopped and said it sounds right what’s the problem..
ratnam said - ‘hear the whole thing” and he said,” why should i, i will if you insist but this boy sounds reasonable and intelligent, if you don’t trust him don’t hire him, by calling me don’t insult him and if you still are so insecure then don’t make a film in the language you don’t know, and if you still want to and cannot trust anyone then learn the language.”. Shankar just smiled, he knew what sujatha would say and he probably wanted mr. ratnam to hear that..
i loved that man, he was there on Yuva too and always around when i went to Chennai, Sujatha is his WiFE’s name, he was like a child and loved science fiction. It’s sad he is no more.
I worry about Mani sir too, everyone he is close to is leaving one by one.
“I worry about Mani sir too, everyone he is close to is leaving one by one.”
sad but true :-(
ishwar unki aatma ko shanti de!
thanks kartik for this informative tribute.
Rest in peace.
Thanks KK for the info, didn’t know many things about this great writer
Now, who will write the dialogs for Shankar’s “Robot” for Rajni and please his fans?
//I worry about Mani sir too, everyone he is close to is leaving one by one//
I just don’t think Mani Ratnam works that way..Technicians or ppl who aid him the creation of a movie are almost like instruments that he uses to realise that “Mani Ratnam effect” on screen..
I am not praising the guy here.. I am not saying he is great.. But he has this vision( which might appeal to some and not appeal to others)…and that vision makes his movie very very independent of those who work with him.. All his actors and his technicians just absorb that vision that he has and become a part of it while collaborating with him..
He is intutive and it shows.. So u can have a Santosh Sivan, a Rajeev Menon or a Ravi K chandran photograph his movies but ultimately all they r doing is transferring his vision onto celluloid..
Karthik Krishnan,
It is indeed a big loss to everyone. Sujatha has been the big banyan tree of Tamil literature. He has beent he inspiration for several talented young writers who have become successful in their fields. Sujatha was a immensely famous writer with millions of fans across the globe. He has inspired several youngsters to Tamil Literature.
Btw Karthik, Sujatha was not the script writer for Kamal’s Dasavatharam. It is Crazy Mohan.
I had read this tribute written for him by Tigmanshu Dhulia somewhere where he referred to Mani Ratnam as “India’s Martin Scorsese” ..
I think Mr. Dhulia’s comparison was based on his theory that both the directors have a body of work that focusses on a varied subjects..
But I think that comparison is a bit misplaced that way.. I think its the fact that both Scorsese and Ratnam have a vision that never blinks, the fact that the quality of their movies dont really depend on whom they r collaborating with that brings them both on the same plateau..
That way, that comparison to me seems more alligned.. It makes more sense
Sujatha was this multifaceted genius who could write about anything and everything.
Proof of his variety:
1. Wrote novels on teenage romance and child psychology like Srirangathu devadhaigal.
2. Wrote Scifi novels (really good ones) dealing with AI, aliens and time travel like En Iniya Iyandhira and meendum Jeeno which got published to great appreciation in leading thamizh dailies like Kumudham, Anandha Vikatan and Kalki.
3. He wrote thousands of short stories which again touched myriads of subjects.
4. He served as editor of weeklies like Kumudham (pretty commercial) and the zanniness he brought to those magazines in those weeks was amazing.
5. When he found his stories adapted to screenplays on movies being butchered, he decided to take up screenplay writing and trained himself to write good screenplays and scripts, some of which were very evident in Roja, Kannathil Muthamittal etc., He wrote the first proper bond like movie in thamizh, Kamal starrer Vikram. His collaboration with Kamal gave movie goers with tremendous movies.
6. In between all these, he also ran signature magazines (Kai ezuthu pradhi) like kanayaazhi which was totally dedicated to literature and encouraged many a hopeful young writer to find his/her own bearing.
7. He wrote book on how to write screenplay for movies.
8. He was one writer in thamizh who reached out to everyone through blogs.
9. Without much fanfare he has helped many in financial distress personally and through his writer circle.
10. He was a major champion of Linux in India. He tried his reach to popularize Linux and overall IT education and believed its power to empower masses.
Overall it is more than just a writer who passed away.
In Roja,
Rishi’s boss in conversation with newly married Rishi and his wife Roja,
Boss: Endha ooruma nee (from where you are coming?)
Rishi: Sir she is from a small village..
Boss: andha ponnu pesattume( Let her speak)
Roja: Sundharapandiya puram(name of her village)
Boss: Ada, namma ooru ponnu (Ah, she is from my place)
Rishi: Sir about the intercepts and crypto..
Boss(interrupting): Adhu kedakkattum. inga naan boss (leave it there, i am the boss here)
Turning to Roja,
Vellai paniyaaram seyya theriyuma (Do you know how to make a sweet meat)
In a span of two minute, the writer established the technical credential of Rishi, his boss, and his boss’ humorous nature. A scene that began as a cryptology conversation that went on to dwell about Vellai paniyaaram (a sweet meat). Awesome talent and idea to bring in so many small things to a scene. Will miss you!!!
So unfair…Why him? Why now?
Such a great writer..A man who changed the way writers wrote in tamizh. Though his stamp was there as a dialogue writer in his films with Mani Sir and Shankar, he shone best in films like Ullam Ketkume. Who else could have written dialogues for a film like Sivaji where the Superstar played a software engineer?
Sir, We will miss you, but you are one of the very few literary immortals in Tamil.
the biggest casualty from sujatha’s death is the mani ratname heroine who is actually the sujatah heroine.
Examples include -
Revathi in that movie where she gets married to Mohan but was in love with Kartik. This is the prototype of the bubbly carefree middle classs girl that sings and dances ion the rain and later becomes serious. It has been repeated ad nauseasm after that.
Amala in Agni Nakshathiram
Aishwarya in Guru
Madhoo in Roja
Can’t remember the others.
The other casualty is the Mani Ratnam loverboy hero, who is actually Sujatha’s Hero.
Examples -
Kartik in Agni Naksh, and that movie with revathi
Maddy/Vicky oberoi in Alaipayuthe/saathiya
Siddharth/Vicky Oberoi in Yuva/Ayutha