http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/28/stories ... 921100.htm

Prolific Tamil writer Sujatha passes away
Staff Reporter
His lucid prose drew thousands of youths to literature

CHENNAI: Sujatha, one of the most prolific writers of contemporary Tamil literature, passed away in a private hospital here late Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 72.

Pen name

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.”

He created a tamil dictionary for all IT/Computer buzz words first (e.g. Computer=Kanipori) and eventually used his own tamil terms in his tamil novels. most of Tamil IT buzz words are still mainly created by him. I have seen and won award for some IT presentation during my "black hair" days. Very intellectual. When he was in college all of us (including myself) started talking in english (?) but he was the guest speaker and shook us with his excellent tamil.

Greatly admired by Kamal and Shankar and used in their movies a lot!

Great loss to Tamil literature.

I saw his latest interview in Vijay TV. He mentioned that he is 73, getting old, and prefer not to travel around and work in movies and only accept movies that he thinks he has a role to pay, rather others cant do justification and shivaji is one of them! the interviewer ended by saying "72 old youngster sujatha".

he also mentioned that he studied in same college where President Abdul Kalaam studied and they both selected different path! Man... great loss.

Mani Ratnam used him as a dialogue writer as well. I think he wrote the story-screenplay for Robot (Iyanthira), which is the next Shankar film.

Raghuvaran passes away

IndiaGlitz [Wednesday, March 19, 2008]


Raghuvaran, a distinguished character artiste, passed away in Chennai this morning (March 19). He was admitted to Mehtha Hospital for treatment a few days ago. The reason for the death has been disclosed as weakness caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It is learnt that he had been under intensive medical care for the past few weeks.


Kollywood Pays Homage To Raghuvaran


Raghuvaran, born in December 11, 1948, has acted in several Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi films. Most of his roles were of a villain or a supporting actor. He has also acted as a hero in a few movies.

Though he has acted in several films, he shot to fame with his role as the protagonist of a Tamil soap opera, 'Oru Manidhanin Kadhai' (One Man's Story), about the agony of a well-to-do man who becomes an alcoholic.

Unfortunately, the drug addiction cast its shade in his real life too. His wife Rohini too divorced him due to his addiction. They have a son Rishi.

Though Raghuvaran tried to rid his habit and tried to lead life on normal terms, the addiction did not leave him alone.

'Anjali', 'Batsha', Puriyatha Puthir, and 'Mudhalvan' are some of the films in which he had rendered outstanding performances. He has acted in many of Rajini’s films including his latest film 'Sivaji - The Boss'. Though he had gradually reduced the number of films in recent years, he had three releases lined up in 2008, 'Bheemaa', 'Ashoka', and 'Silanerangalil'. He had also acted as Dhanush's father in ‘Yaradi Nee Mohini’, which is yet to be released.
My deepest condolences on the death of this versatile actor.

He was a fab actor -- great talent - Raghuvaran. Farewell...

Charleton Heston Passes Away.

thats sad I love to watch ten commandments any time it is on!

Kajol And Tanishaa´s Father Shomu Mukherjee Is No More
- Abid
It could not have been a bigger tragedy than this for Kajol, her sister Tanishaa, mother Tanuja and of course Ajay Devgan.

A day after her husband Ajay Devgan's directorial debut venture 'U, Me Aur Hum' had its grand premiere and about a day before it is scheduled for a global release, Kajol (and Tanishaa's) father Shomu Mukherjee left for his heavenly abode early today.

Whether he is celebrity or not? loss for family.

imdb list does include quite a few films credited to Shomu Mukherjee for Producer, Director, Writer but none for Acting. I think, he did act in main role in a few films ??

So he does qualify to be part of this thread I guess?

Definitely.

I remember him mainly from the first 2 Planet of the Apes films and Ben-Hur. Last time I saw him on screen was in Bowling from Columbine, where he didn't come across well. You can either blame him or Michael Moore for that.