Veteran film chronicler P G Ananthakrishnan, popularly known as Film News Anandan, died of old age at his Mahalingapuram residence in Chennai on March 21.
He was 89 and survived by two daughters and two sons. He began his career as a freelance photographer for the magazine Film News. He was among the first public relations personnel of the Tamil film industry and single-handedly chronicled the data of over 3,000 films from the first Tamil film Kalidas in 1931.
Anandan’s meticulous data of each film covered hard facts and other trivia. His collection also included about 6,000 still photos that were invaluable for later day filmmakers, art historians, cinema buffs and media magazines. He was generous in sharing information and won many state awards besides Man of the Year prize from the American Biographical Institute in 1998.
In 2003, Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa, a former Tamil film heroine, gifted him Rs1.5mn to publish his collection as a book. However Anandan was unable to exhibit his work as a permanent museum because of the ongoing construction of Nadigar Sangam building at T Nagar.
Anandan also did cameo roles in some films.

Three held for
murder of
councillor

Three people have been arrested for allegedly stabbing to death K Vijayraghavan, a corporation  councillor in broad daylight on the busy Munichalai road in Madurai city last week.
Selvapandi, Murugapandi and Manipandi, who were also brothers, confessed that they murdered Vijayraghavan as he had refused to grant them freebies from government shops in the area.
In another incident, S Muthuraja, a councillor of the Sellur area in Madurai, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his office room. A suicide note addressed to his wife and children said he was suffering from kidney failure and had business debts. Police have begun a probe in both cases.

Agasthyamalai
included in
Unesco

The Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, covering about 3,500sq km of forest shared between Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the Western Ghats has been included in the Unesco World Biosphere Reserve Network.
The Agasthayamalai Biosphere is part of Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts in Tamil Nadu and Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Patanamthitta districts in Kerala. The Agasthyamalai peak is 1,868m above sea level and is a popular religious and tourist spot.
The reserve consists of tropical forests rich in cardamom, pepper, wild gooseberries, nutmeg and other spices and about 50 species of medicinal plants. It also has three wildlife sanctuaries and a crocodile bank.

Herbal oil
firm’s scion
kills himself

Umapathy, 46, the scion of the 103-year-old RS Pathy herbal oil conglomerate, committed suicide by hanging at his residence in Chandra Gandhi Nagar in Madurai last week.
His wife and daughter found his body after coming back from shopping and alerted police. Police said that Umapathy had incurred huge debts and was being heckled for non-payment of dues.
Police are interrogating his creditors.
RS Pathy herbal oil was established by Umapathy’s grandfather, a Siddha doctor, in 1909 and manufactures pain relief oils, herbal teas and millets.