Sa. Kandasamy (23 July 1940[1] – 31 July 2020)[2] was a novelist and documentary film-maker from Mayiladuthurai in the IndianstateofTamil Nadu. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil for his novel, Vicharanai Commission in 1998.[2]
Kandasamy later moved to Chennai, and joined a writers' group that included writer S. Ramakrishnan and artist R.B. Baskaran. They briefly published a literary magazine, Ka Sa Da Tha Pa Ra.[4]
He died at the age of 80, after experiencing a heart attack.[6]
Kandasamy's first novel was Saayavanam Puthinam, published in 1968. It was well-received and was later included by the National Book Trust as one of Indian literature's modern masterpieces.[3]Saayavanam is one of the earliest examples of literature focusing on ecological concerns in India, and focuses on forest clearances and industrial development in Tamil Nadu.[4] Kandasamy based on the novel on his own experiences in rural Tamil Nadu, and named the novel after a village that he had lived in with his family, as a child.[4]
His novel, Vicharanai Commission, which dealt with custodial violence and the police, won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil in 1998.[5]
He has published seven novels and several collection of short stories, in Tamil. One of Kandasamy's novels, Tholaindhu ponavargal was adapted for television.[2]
In addition to fiction, Kandasamy wrote several pieces of criticism, focusing on visual arts and writing in Tamil Nadu, as well as introducing a series of Tamil biographies published by the Sahitya Akademi.[4]
Kandasamy's documentary film, Kaval Deivangal, documented history and techniques relating to traditional terracotta art in South India.[4] It won the first prize at the Angino Film Festival, in Cyprus, in 1989.[7] In addition, Kandasamy also directed several other documentaries, primarily on popular Tamil writers and artists, including the sculptor S. Dhanapal, and writers Jayakanthan and Ashokamitran.[5]
