La Sa Ra

Lalgudi Saptarishi Ramamrutham (30 October 1916 – 30 October 2007) was a veteran Tamil novelist, having authored 300 short stories, 6 novels and 10 collections of essays. He died on his ninety-first birthday.

He was a native of Lalgudi and one of the writers of the Manikodi era. He started writing when he was 20, originally in English and then changed over to Tamil. He worked for the Punjab National Bank for 30 years and settled down in Chennai after his retirement.

La Sa Ra worked for three years as a typist in Vauhini Pictures, which then produced a series of landmark Telugu films like Vande Mataram, Sumangali, and Devata. It was then K. Ramnoth, another South Indian film director, told La Sa Ra not to waste his gift indicating that his hoping for a career in films would not be salutary. He ultimately became a banker but he continued with his writing.

He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1989 for Chintha nathi, a collection of autobiographical essays.