Rajesh Kumar is the pseudonym of KR Rajagopal, [1] a Tamil author of crime fiction.
Kumar's first published story was in 1968 [2] or 1969, [3] in the college magazine of Government Arts College, Coimbatore, where he earned a degree in botany. [4] He has attributed this to a prank by another student, who used Kumar's name when volunteering to submit a story for the magazine; [2] when his professor refused to allow Kumar to back out, [5] "the next day" [2] he "reluctantly" submitted "Vaazhndhu Kaatuvom", a love story. [5]
Later that year, he submitted the crime story "Unnai Vidamaatten" to a short story contest in Malai Murasu; this was the first story for which he was paid. [5]
In 1977, his work began appearing in Kumudam, starting with the short story "Idhu Nyayama". [5]
His first novel, Vaadagaiku Oru Uyir, [5] was published in 1980. [1] He subsequently told of how the editor of Kumudam had "seen a porter on a platform at Egmore Railway Station engrossed in one of [Kumar's] stories. The porter had also forgone customers just to finish the story. It was then that [the editor] decided to make [Kumar] write a novel." [3]
In 1986, his publisher asked him if he could produce a novel a month; as a result, he became a full-time writer. [5]
As of 2019, Kumar has written over 1500 novels;[ dubious – discuss] his son, for whom digitizing the novels into e-books is a full-time profession, has been able to locate "around 1,000" of them. [6] He has also written over 2000 short stories, and scripts for over 250 television series, [1] as well as the 2015 film Sandamarutham. [7]
In 2019, he announced that he was negotiating with Sathya Jyothi Films regarding adaptations of his work on Amazon Prime. [6][ needs update]
Prior to writing full-time, Kumar spent five years teaching, with a degree in education from Ramakrishna Vidyalaya; [4] when he grew bored with this, he worked as a sales representative for an industrial rubber goods company. [7]
To avoid being confused with two pre-existing Tamil authors named "KR Rajagopal", he created a pseudonym based on the names of his sister and his sister-in-law: Rajeshwari and Ananthakumar. [1]
Rajesh Kumar is the pseudonym of KR Rajagopal, [1] a Tamil author of crime fiction.
Kumar's first published story was in 1968 [2] or 1969, [3] in the college magazine of Government Arts College, Coimbatore, where he earned a degree in botany. [4] He has attributed this to a prank by another student, who used Kumar's name when volunteering to submit a story for the magazine; [2] when his professor refused to allow Kumar to back out, [5] "the next day" [2] he "reluctantly" submitted "Vaazhndhu Kaatuvom", a love story. [5]
Later that year, he submitted the crime story "Unnai Vidamaatten" to a short story contest in Malai Murasu; this was the first story for which he was paid. [5]
In 1977, his work began appearing in Kumudam, starting with the short story "Idhu Nyayama". [5]
His first novel, Vaadagaiku Oru Uyir, [5] was published in 1980. [1] He subsequently told of how the editor of Kumudam had "seen a porter on a platform at Egmore Railway Station engrossed in one of [Kumar's] stories. The porter had also forgone customers just to finish the story. It was then that [the editor] decided to make [Kumar] write a novel." [3]
In 1986, his publisher asked him if he could produce a novel a month; as a result, he became a full-time writer. [5]
As of 2019, Kumar has written over 1500 novels;[ dubious – discuss] his son, for whom digitizing the novels into e-books is a full-time profession, has been able to locate "around 1,000" of them. [6] He has also written over 2000 short stories, and scripts for over 250 television series, [1] as well as the 2015 film Sandamarutham. [7]
In 2019, he announced that he was negotiating with Sathya Jyothi Films regarding adaptations of his work on Amazon Prime. [6][ needs update]
Prior to writing full-time, Kumar spent five years teaching, with a degree in education from Ramakrishna Vidyalaya; [4] when he grew bored with this, he worked as a sales representative for an industrial rubber goods company. [7]
To avoid being confused with two pre-existing Tamil authors named "KR Rajagopal", he created a pseudonym based on the names of his sister and his sister-in-law: Rajeshwari and Ananthakumar. [1]