what Chennai would look like in post 2020? The answer, of course, was a resounding yes. It is then that I began to notice that a movie that had Sujatha as dialogue and co-scriptwriter was unfailingly interesting. Even if the movie didn’t always work, there was a freshness and inventiveness to the dialogues and the story. Also, a distinctly literary quality that could only come from a scriptwriter who was also the author of several popular novels and short stories.

To celebrate two of his best-known novels, Kanavu Thozhirsalai and Pirivom Sandhippom (Part I and II), Ananda Vikadan put up a giant cut out of Sujatha on Mount Road – the first time a writer had been honoured this way. He was not only prolific(100 novels, 200 short stories, 400 or more articles/columns and a dozen plays) but also broke new ground for the way he introduced genre fiction into popular Tamil literature.

Among the many early films he worked on were two Rajini movies, Gayathri and Priya-both based on his novels. And Kamal’s Vikram. Karayellam Shenbagapoo, Ninaithale Inikkum, Poi Mugangal and Vanakkathukkuriya Kathaliye are of some of the other films based on his novels and stories. Not many people know that his work has been adapted into several Kannada films (possibly because he used to work in Bangalore for a long time) such as Aryabatta, 24 Roopai Theevu, and Anitha Ilam Manaivi. His story about an athlete (Pathu Second Mutham) was made into a hit Telugu film starring Ashwini Nachappa, the famous athlete.

It is with Rajeev Menon’s Kandukondain, Kandukondain and practically every film of Mani Ratnam from Roja on (with the exception of Guru) and every film by Shankar, from Indian to the now bereft Robot, that Sujatha became a star dialogue and script- writer. It is well known that it was Sujatha and his wife who recommended Siddharth for Shankar’s Boys. They had seen him on the sets of Mani’s Kannathil Muthamittal as assistant director and thought he was perfect to play the lead in Boys.

Mani Ratnam was the first to notice his particular talent for dialogue writing, and for shaping a movie’s story in literary terms. Mani began collaborating with him closely, and the brilliant results were there for everyone to see on screen. Shankar picked up on this, and fused Sujatha’s ear for dialogue with Shankar’s own gift for grand storytelling. I also get the feeling that some scenes in Kandukondain, Kandukondain tap into Sujatha’s literary sensibility. What do I mean by this? I’m referring to the scene where Ash and Abbas have an argument over which the author of a certain passage is - Bharathi or Bharathidasan? You could feel the presence (and the contribution) of a Tamil writer in this wonderful scene.

Robot has been not only Shankar’s dream project but Sujatha’s too. He was very fond of both sci-fi novels that dealt with this theme. They had been widely serialized and read. It had also been adapted for television. It is the dream of any novelist to have her or his novel made into a movie. And every author’s fantasy that he would actually collaborate on the script, and even contribute to the process of making the movie. And for this versatile writer this fantasy had come true with the making of Robot.

And now what will Robot be like without its original creator? Who is to pen the dialogues? Or is it possible that Sujatha had already completed (or nearly completed) the script as some reports claim? Questions not just for us, but also for Robot’s entire team who must be anxious and grieving for such a heavy and sudden loss.

One thing I’m certain of: when the film is done and released, Shankar will surely dedicate Robot to the memory of Sujatha, the versatile, unworldly artist who brought Tamil literature and film together.