Remembering Sujatha, the writer who inspired Tamils to read

Today is the birthday of veteran writer Sujatha who is easily the most popular writers in Tamil Nadu. It won't be an overstatement to say that he is a superstar among Tamil fiction and non-fiction book readers as his books are being republished every year even after his death in 2008.

Sujatha (born as Rangarajan in Trichy) has written hundreds of novels, novellas, short stories, dramas and essays on various topics. He has been writing since 1970s. His novel were made as films from as early as 70s. He also started working on films scripts and dialogues for films. His association with K.Balachander (Ninaithaley Inikkum), Kamal Haasan ('Vikram', 'Dasavatharam'), Mani Ratnam ('Roja', 'Kannathil Muthamittal', 'Aaydha Ezhuthu') and Shankar ('Indian', 'Mudhalvan', 'Boys', 'Anniyan', 'Sivaji' and 'Enthiran) have resulted in memorable blockbusters.

Despite being a prolific writer whose stories dealt with a lot of themes, Sujatha is always denied a place in serious literature. He is not considered as a litterateur by the literary critics and writers. But no other Tamil writer is as popular as Sujatha among the people especially the youngsters.

The fact is vouched by the enormous number of posts by youngsters and middle aged people recalling their experience reading Sujatha's novels, short stories and also the great dialogues he has written in many super hit Tamil films. It is indeed true that more than anyone else Sujatha deserves the credit for inspiring generations of Tamil people to read Tamil books.

On this auspicious occasion IndiaGlitz takes pride in remembering and paying tribute to the legendary writer Sujatha.