Indira Parthasarathy
- Indira Parthasarathy is the pen name of R. Parthasarathy, a noted Tamil writer and playwright. He has published sixteen novels, four anthologies of novelettes, six anthologies of short stories, ten plays, and several essays. He is best known for his plays, Aurangzeb, Nandan Kathai, and Ramanujar. Parthasarathy is a recipient of the Saraswati Samman (1999), the Sahitya Akademi Award (1977), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2004) and Padma Shri (2010). After his graduate and postgraduate studies at the Annamalai University, he obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Delhi. Subsequently during 1962-88, he worked in Delhi Tamil Association Higher Secondary School, New Delhi, Dyal Singh College, and Department of Modern Indian Languages, University of Delhi, and in Pondicherry University (1988-92). He was also a Visiting Professor to Warsaw University (1981-85). Most of his plays have been translated into English and Hindi. Marupakkam, a film directed by K. Sethumadavan that won the President of India Gold Medal in 1991 as the best feature film, is based on his novelette Ucchi Veyyil (The Noon Sunshine). He was also the honorary editor of the monthly literary journal Kanaiyazhi and contributed a number of critical essays on modern Tamil literature. The Sahitya Akademi has produced a documentary film on him directed by Ravi Subramanyam.
