V. V. Sadagopan

Veeravanallur Vedantam Sadagopan (born 29 January 1915 – disappeared 11 April 1980) was an Indian educator, musician and actor who served as a professor of music at Delhi University. Sadagopan was known for his efforts to promote children's music education and devotion to the Vaishnavite religious tradition, which led him to extensively research the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, a Tamil verse compilation.

Sadagopan was born in Veeravanallur, a small town in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He came to Chennai in the 1930s, initially to prepare for the Indian Civil Service examinations, and began writing about music for the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan. He also pursued a brief career as an actor, during which he starred in five films, but he later shifted his efforts to performing music. Sadagopan trained under the Carnatic singer Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar and began to hold concerts across India. The Indian government named him a music director at the Gandhigram Rural Institute, where prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited in 1959. Nehru was impressed by Sadagopan's performance, and appointed him to a music professorship at Delhi University, where he served until 1975.

In April 1980, Sadagopan disappeared for unknown reasons after leaving the Gudur Junction railway station in Andhra Pradesh, while en route to Chennai from Delhi. His whereabouts and ultimate fate remain unknown.

Personal life Sadagopan was born on 29 January 1915 in Veeravanallur, a small town in Tirunelveli district. He was the son of an insurance agent, Vedantam Iyengar, and first studied English, Maths, and Sanskrit. He came to Chennai in 1934 to prepare for the Indian Civil Service examinations. Several members of his extended family pursued music. His sister Jayalakshmi Santhanam (1933–2018) was a musician and children's music teacher. His sister-in-law Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan (1928–2013) and her child Sujatha Vijayaraghavan were also both musicians.

Writer In Chennai, Sadagopan became associated with Tamil writer V. Ramasamy, better known by his pen-name VaRaa, and entered journalism. He wrote for the popular weekly Tamil publication Ananda Vikatan

Film actor Sadagopan acted as the main actor in the Tamil film Nava Yuvan (Modern Youth), also known as Geethasaram (Essence of Gita). (It was customary for Tamil films at that time to have two names as titles). The film was shot in London. It is the first ever Tamil film to be shot in a foreign country and V. V. Sadagopan became the first to have acted in such a film.

His second film Adhirstam (Luck) was released in 1939. Sadagopan also acted alongside N. C. Vasanthakokilam in Venuganam in 1941. Afterwards, he decided not to continue his film career and instead pursued music. He studied Vaishnavite literature deeply and gave concerts comprising verses from the Kamba Ramayanam. He travelled all over India and abroad for these lecture-cum-music concerts.

Unique compositions Sadagopan composed music in several languages.