Ranjan was an Indian actor, singer, journalist and writer. He debuted in the 1941 movie Ashok Kumar, but gained fame in S. S. Vasan's 1948 magnum opus Chandralekha.

Ashok Kumar is a 1941 Indian Tamil-language historical drama film directed by Raja Chandrasekhar. Based on a legend involving the Mauryan emperor Ashoka The Great, his son Kunala and Ashoka's second wife Thishyarakshai, it stars M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Chittoor V. Nagayya and P. Kannamba. The film was released on 17 September 1941.