CHENNAI: Popular theatre personality NV Natarajan (83), known as Koothapiran and fondly called as ‘Vaanoli Anna’, died here on Tuesday. He had served at the All India Radio for more than 30 years. Famous for his children’s programmes in AIR for a long time, he was the first to give cricket commentary in Tamil through the public broadcaster.
He had auditioned Sudha Raghunathan, Mandolin Shrinivas, Embar Kannan and many others while they were child artists.
For the past six decades, he had staged many plays besides acting in them. A recipient of the TN Government’s ‘Kalaimamani’ award in 2003, Koothapiran had written the script for ‘Thenmozhiyal’, for Cho’s Viveka Fine Arts. He had also dramatised many of Kalki’s novels as stage plays. Producer of the Pappa Malar segment of AIR for over 25 years, Koothapiran was affectionately known as Vanoli Anna by the children whom he had introduced.
He had started a club for children called Adyar Siruvar Sangam and his first play for the members of this club ‘Amma Sol Amritam’, was enacted in 1955.