Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1925 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and director who performed predominantly in

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...

films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated and urbane way of delivering dialogues, often mixing English and Tamil sentences.

Early life

Sundarrajan was born on 17 March 1925 in a middle-class

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

family in

Periyakulam Periyakulam () is a major town and a municipality in Theni district, in the Madurai Region, South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 42,976. Periyakulam is the northern gateway of the district. Etymology ...

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

. His father Srinivasa Iyengar was a stage actor. Sundarrajan's first stint with acting came when he was in the sixth grade; at this point he was cast in a

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

play of his school. He went on to act in numerous school and college plays. After graduating with a degree in science, Sundarrajan went to Madras (now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

), where his uncle Veeraraghavan was an amateur actor in the Triplicane Fine Arts theatre troupe. Sundarrajan played minor roles in this troupe's plays, and simultaneously managed a full-time career at Madras Telephones.

Career

Sundarrajan began his career in film with a supporting role in ''Vaijayanthimala'', directed by Sundar Rao Natkarni which never saw a theatrical release; his debut film instead became K. Somu's ''

Pattinathar Pattinathar () is a name identified with two different Tamil individuals, one of 10th century AD and another of 14th century AD. 10th century Pattinathar The 10th century AD Pattinathar was a poet whose five works are included in the sacred Sha ...

'' (1962), where he portrayed a Chola king. Sundarrajan subsequently received opportunities to act in the plays of

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

, most notably '' Major Chandrakanth'', where he portrayed the title character. The play propelled Sundarrajan to fame, and was adapted into a 1966 feature film with Sundarrajan reprising the role; his performance received widespread acclaim. After this he became popularly known as "Major" Sundarrajan, with the prefix having first been given to him by the magazine ''Pesum Padam''. Sundarrajan went on to appear in over 900 films and continued to act in plays, eventually launching his own theatre troupe. Later, he started acting in television shows.

Image

Sundararajan was well known for his sophisticated and urbane way of delivering dialogues, often mixing English and Tamil sentences. In most of his early films he would play wealthy and assertive characters, such as

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

s, an exception being '' Aalayam'' (1967), where he played a poor Brahmin clerk.

Personal life and death

Sundarrajan was married to Shyamala, with whom he had a son named Gowtham. Apart from acting, he was also a skilled gourmet cook. Sundarrajan was initially an atheist, despite being born into a Brahmin family, but became a believer later in his life. Sundarrajan died on 28 February 2003 at Chennai.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sundarrajan, Major 1925 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Indian film directors 20th-century Indian male actors Actors in Tamil theatre Male actors from Chennai Male actors in Tamil cinema Tamil film directors Tamil male actors Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners