Ceylon Manohar dies

‘Ceylon’ Manohar also known as AE Manoharan passed away in Chennai late Monday the 22nd January due to age-related ailments. He was 73 years old and is survived by his wife, twin daughters and a son. He was an actor-singer, famous for his Tamil pop ‘Surangani’ made in mid-70s. He was living at Kandanchavadi near the Tidel Park on OMR. He had been bedridden for the past six months due to kidney ailments according to his family members.

He started his career in dramas and produced films in Jaffna in the 50s and early 60s. He launched into a singing career in Colombo in 1970 when he sang for the Great Friends Enterprises. He was the hero in the first Tamil movie made in Jaffna called ‘Pasa Nila’. Since then, he had acted in over 250 films in Tamil, Sinhalese and a couple of other languages. He also acted in movies in Tamil, Malayalam, Sinhala and Hindi and shared screen space with Rajinikanth, Mammootty, Dharmendra and Madhavan, among others.

He also made a mark in Tamil television and was seen in the TV shows Thirumathi Selvam and Anjali. He was best known for the song Surangani. He sung over 500 pop songs and was extremely popular for his singing here and in Sri Lanka. He also earned the title of ‘Pop Chakravarthi’ and performed in several concerts across the world.