'Major' Sundararajan

His versatility and an urbane way with dialogue, juggling English and Tamil sentences and phrases - he was an English movie buff - made "Major" Sundararajan, who has died aged 68, big in Tamil cinema, and one of southern India's most popular film stars.

He came from a middle-class Brahmin family in Periyakulam, in Madurai district, and, having graduated in science, went to Madras, where his uncle was an amateur actor in the famous Triplicane Fine Arts theatre group, which specialised in Tamil plays. Sundararajan got minor parts in these productions and, working with another amateur theatre group, played leading roles in plays by Kailasam Balachandar.

When Balachandar began directing screen adaptations of his plays in the 1960s, Sundararajan got the lead roles. One such part was in Major Chandrakanth, in which the main protagonist was a blind and retired army major. Such was his powerhouse performance that part of the title became his prefix.

He acted in many films with the famous Sivaji Ganesan, and the two became inseparable. One of their most memorable movies was Gnana Oli, a reworking of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

As well as acting with almost all of India's major stars over the last three decades, Sundararajan launched his own drama company, though film production brought him more problems than profits. Later, he appeared in television serials.

Modest and cheerful, he is survived by his wife and son.

· 'Major' Sundararajan, actor, born March 17 1935; died February 28 2003

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