Tamil writer and documentary filmmaker Sa Kandasamy died in Chennai on Friday of a heart attack, The Times of India reported. He was 81 years old.

Kandasamy was being treated at a private hospital in Chennai. His funeral will be held in the city on Friday evening.

He was a prolific Tamil writer and literary critic. Kandasamy’s “Vicharanai Commission” won the Sahitya Akademi award for best Tamil novel in 1998. A documentary titled Kaval Deivangal, based on Kandasamy’s study of South Indian terracotta, won the first prize at the Angina Festival in Cyprus in 1989.

Kandasamy is survived by his wife, daughter and two sons.