Chennai
Detective serial Thuppariyum Sambhu by Dhevan and lighter family based stories like Yellai Prachanai were popular in their own way.
Although independent publishers had their dedicated clients, the power of the weekly magazines was such that most writers launched their stories first as a serial before the publishers took a call on whether they can be published as a book.
It was very common practice for householders to detach the serialised stories and assemble it as a bound book.
In this milieu the entry of Sujatha as a writer with a new style and gait was a game changer. S. Rangarajan, (his real name), a science and engineering graduate and a dedicated public sector employee, brought to the Tamil fiction scene a new vocabulary and bold characterisation while exploring new themes.
The themes were bold even if there was a dependence on very well established constructs of English fiction. “Those stories were a great read because we got introduced to everyday life and situations by authors who had a love for the language,” says Nithya Nathan, a home maker who has most of the works of Dhevan, Sujatha, Rajesh Kumar and Sivasankari.
“Sujatha opened up a new world to us with his writings on hologram, computers and works like ‘En iniya indira’, which featured a robotic dog. In fact, Sujatha inspired my husband to opt for computer science, when not many knew about the field,” she says.
From his investigative series based on a lawyer named Ganesh and his side kick Vasanth, to the popular futuristic science themes, Sujatha was ahead of his times in many ways.
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