[1][2] He was a teacher at Madurai Sri Mangala Bala Gana Sabha training young boys in dramatics.
One of his students became a renowned actor later who acknowledged to his friends that it was due to the discipline of his tutor he was able to reach heights.
In Pasamalar, he featured as Rajaratnam, a village senior who arranges the marriage of Sivaji Ganesan with M. N. Rajam.
The voice is of Santhanam, who featured as Dhanapal Muthaliar (a filmmaker), father of Neela (Jayalalithaa) in the film.
During the 1950s, Tamil Cinema had a number of classic lyricists who enriched the films with their variety of songs.
The sequence is: a poet takes up a challenge thrown by the King to sing 100 songs without referring to earthly pleasures, in order to win his daughter, the princess.
Music director Ilaiyaraaja once said that he got the inspiration for his song "Vaa Vennilla" from the film Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu (1986) was a song written by Santhanam – "Vaan Meedhile Inba Thaen Maari Peyudhe" from the film Chandirani (1953).