Tamil scribe S. Rangarajan died after a brief illness Feb. 27 in Chennai, India.

Using his wife's name, Sujatha, as his pseudonym, Rangarajan, 72, was the scribe or co-scribe of several hit films including 2007's Rajnikant starrer "Sivaji, the Boss," which was credited with boosting the moribund Tamil film industry, and Kamal Hassan comedy "Dasavatharam," currently in theaters.

Among the award-winning films that he wrote dialogue for were Mani Ratnam pics such as 2002's "A Peck on the Cheek," 1998's "From the Heart" and 2004's "Ayitha ezhuthu."

Born S. Rangarajan in Triplicane, Tamil Nadu, he was an engineer for Bharat Electronics in Bangalore when he started writing short stories and then novels in Tamil.

He migrated to screenplays in the 1980s with "Wandering Breeze."

Other credits include Aishwarya Rai starrer "Kandukondain kandukondain," in 2002 based on "Sense and Sensibility."