S.V. Ramanan, a doyen of Tamil advertisements in radio and television and a filmmaker, died at his residence in the city in the early hours of Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 87.
Ramanan, son of legendary director K. Subrahmanyam, has lent his voice to innumerable radio and television advertisements. Fondly called as ‘silver-tongued broadcaster’ by his well-wishers, Ramanan had produced several radio and television commercials, short films, documentary films and serials.
He had helped build several brands with his voice over in radio commercials over the past six decades. Many of the advertisements are still popular and have a fan base.
Kannan Balakrishnan, his nephew, said the commercials for “Narasu’s Coffee” and “Rathna Fan House” are among the popular ones. He recalled that Ramanan recorded a series of voice over for radio commercials, including for “Rathna Fan House”, about a month ago.
“Such was his professional commitment and his resonating voice remained the same. He had received the Kalaimamani award,” he said.
Ramanan, who founded Jaishree pictures, has made several documentary films on arts, architecture and spiritual leaders such as Ramana Maharshi. He had directed a Tamil feature film Uruvangal Maralam, starring Y.G. Mahendran and Suhasini. The film, which was released in 1983, had guest appearances of several actors, including Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Jaishankar. Ramanan had composed the music for the film.
Moreover, he composed music for several albums and also dance dramas for his sister and veteran Bharatanatyam dancer Padma Subrahmanyam. He is survived by his wife Bama Ramanan and daughters Lakshmi and Saraswathi. He is the maternal grandfather of film music composer Anirudh Ravichander.
