Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam

S. V. Sahasranamam
Sahasranamam as seen in Policekaran Magal (1962)
Born	Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (1913-11-29)29 November 1913 Singanallur, Coimbatore
Died	19 February 1988(1988-02-19) (aged 74)
Other names	S. V. S.
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1935-1988
Children	S. V. S. Khumar

Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Sahasranamam (29 November 1913 – 19 February 1988), commonly known as S. V. Sahasranamam and S. V. S., was an Indian theatre and film actor and also a director, who worked in over 200 films, primarily in Tamil cinema.

Sahasranamam was born on 29 November 1913 at Singanallur, then a municipality and now part of Coimbatore. He was the fourth child born to Venkatraman and Parvathi. Because of his interest in acting, he left his home at an early age to join the Madurai Sri Balashanmuganandha Sabha, a popular theatre group, which was later renamed T. K. S. Nataka Sabha.

Several years after he joined T. K. S. Nataka Sabha, Sahasranamam started his own theatre group titled "Seva Stage". With that, he staged several popular plays such as Kangal, Irulum Oliyum and Vadivelu Vaathiyar. These plays were later adapted into feature films and were commercially successful. He also adapted the novels of writers such as B. S. Ramiah, T. Janakiraman and Ku Pa Rajagopalan, and made them into theatrical films. Although Sahasranamam was also a successful film actor, having appeared in over 200 films, he always considered theatre his main interest.

Between March 1974 and February 1988, Sahasranamam had suffered more than five heart attacks. He had chosen the artists for the play Nandha Vilakku, authored by novelist/dramatist Krishnamani, and asked them to come for a rehearsal on 21 February. But he suffered a heart attack on 19 February 1988 and died at 4:30 pm IST. Sahasranamam is survived by his son S. V. S. Khumar, also an actor.