Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), also known as S. V. S., was an Indian actor and director. Primarily a theatre actor, he also worked in over 200 films, mainly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

Early life

Sahasranamam was born on 29 November 1913 at

Singanallur Singanallur is a major residential locality of the city of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located on the banks of Noyyal river, which runs to the southern boundary of the locality. It is situated in the eastern part of the city, and is ...

. He was the fourth child born to Venkatraman and Parvathi. Because of his interest in acting, he left his home at an early age to join the Madurai Sri Balashanmuganandha Sabha, a popular theatre group, which was later renamed T. K. S. Nataka Sabha.

Career

Several years after he joined T. K. S. Nataka Sabha, Sahasranamam started his own theatre group titled "Seva Stage". With that, he staged several popular plays such as ''Kangal'', ''Irulum Oliyum'' and ''Vadivelu Vaathiyar''. These plays were later adapted into feature films and were commercially successful. He also adapted the novels of writers such as

B. S. Ramiah Batlagundu Subramanian Ramiah (24 March 1905 – 18 May 1983) was a Tamil writer, journalist, and critic from Tamil Nadu, India. He was also a script and dialogue writer in Tamil films. Biography B. S. Ramiah was born in Batlagundu in 1905. H ...

, T. Janakiraman and Ku Pa Rajagopalan, and made them into feature films. Although Sahasranamam was also successful in cinema, having acted in over 200 films since debuting in that field with ''

Menaka Menaka () is an Apsara (heavenly nymph) in Hindu literature. Legends Menaka was born during the churning of the ocean by the devas and asuras. She is one of the most mesmerising apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the three worlds, with quick intel ...

'' (1935), he always considered theatre his main interest.

Awards

Sahasranamam won the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

for Acting (Tamil) in 1967, and received the

Sangeetha Kalasikhamani Sangeetha Kalasikhamani or Sangita Kalasikhamani (Sanskrit: saṅgītakalāśikhāmaṇi) (sangeetha = music, kala = art, sikhamaṇi = A gem of a diadem or crest) is the title awarded yearly to an expert Carnatic music Carnatic music, kno ...

award in 1980 by the Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.

Illness and death

Between March 1974 and February 1988, Sahasranamam had suffered more than five heart attacks. He had chosen the artists for the play ''Nandha Vilakku'', authored by novelist/dramatist Krishnamani, and asked them to come for a rehearsal on 21 February. But he suffered a heart attack on 19 February 1988 and died at 4:30 pm

IST Ist or IST may refer to: Information Science and Technology * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Science and Technology * Graduate School / Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan * Graduate School ...

. Sahasranamam's son S. V. S. Kumar is also an actor.

Partial filmography

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahasranamam, S. V. 1913 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Indian male actors Actors in Tamil theatre Indian male stage actors Male actors in Tamil cinema People from Coimbatore Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award