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M
...
Vasudevan Nair

M
...
in 2015
Born

Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair
15 July 1933
Kudallur, Ponnani taluk, Malabar District, Madras
Presidency, British India

Died

25 December 2024 (aged 91)
Kozhikode, Kerala, India

Occupation

Novelist, short story writer, screenplay writer, film director

Language

Malayalam, English

Alma mater

Victoria College, Palakkad

Genre

Novel, short story, children's literature, travelogue, essays

Subject

Social aspects, Oriented on the basic Kerala family and cultures

Notable
works

Naalukettu
Randamoozham
Manju
Kaalam
Asuravithu

Iruttinte Athmavu
Notable
awards

Padma Bhushan
Kerala Jyothi
Jnanpith
Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award

Spouse

•

Prameela

(m
...
1976)
Kalamandalam Saraswathi

(m
...
He was a prolific and versatile writer in
modern Malayalam literature, and was one of the masters of post-Independence Indian
literature
...


At the age of 20, as a chemistry undergraduate, he won the prize for the best short story in
Malayalam for Valarthumrigangal at World Short Story Competition jointly conducted by New York
Herald Tribune, Hindustan Times, and Mathrubhumi
...
His other novels
include Manju (Mist), Kaalam (Time), Asuravithu (The Demon Seed), and Randamoozham (The
Second Turn)
...
His three novels set in
traditional tharavads in Kerala are Naalukettu, Asuravithu, and Kaalam
...
He directed seven films and wrote the
screenplay for around 54 films
...
In 1995 he was awarded the highest literary award
in India, Jnanpith, for his overall contribution to Malayalam literature
...
He died in Kozhikode on 25 December 2024
...
His birthplace fell under Malabar
District in erstwhile Madras Presidency of the British Raj
...
Narayanan Nair and Ammalu Amma
...

Although his family did not nurture an interest in reading, Nair started writing at an early age and
had his work published in magazines
...
He had to
break education after high school, and when he joined college in 1949, he was advised to opt for the
science stream as it was felt that a degree in science secured a job faster than any other degree
...

He taught mathematics in Pattambi Board High School and Chavakkad Board High School for over a
year and worked in M
...
Tutorial College, Palakkad during 1955–56
...


Nair began writing at a very young age, inspired by his elder brothers who wrote time and again in
several literary journals and poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri who was his senior at high
school
...
His first published work was an
essay on the diamond industry of ancient India, titled "Pracheenabharathathile Vaira Vyavasayam",
which appeared in Keralakshemam, a biweekly published by C
...
Nair from Guruvayoor
...
The story
explores the feelings of a boy too poor to have firecrackers of his own, as he stands listening to the
sounds of crackers coming from the houses of the rich celebrating the new year festival of Vishu: an
overwhelming sense of loss, the painful realisation that this is the way things are and the way they're
likely to stay
...

Nair's first literary prize came to him while he was a student at Victoria College, Palakkad - his short
story "Valarthumrigangal" (Pet Animals) won first prize in the World Short Story Competition
conducted by The New York Herald Tribune, Hindustan Times, and Mathrubhumi in 1954
...
The numerous stories that followed dealt
with themes culled from widely different milieus and contexts but were uniformly successful and
popular
...
"Iruttinte
Athmavu" ("Soul of Darkness"), one of the most celebrated among his short stories, is the heart
wrenching story of a 21-year-old man, regarded as a lunatic by everyone and treated abominably
...
The story "Sherlock"
moves between the rural milieu familiar to Nair's readers and the sophisticated world of Indian

immigrants in the US, highlighting the contrast between them with subtle irony
...
In the story "Vanaprastham", he studies the
delicately balanced relationship between a teacher and a student that has miraculously survived the
years
...
He,
along with T
...


Main articles: Naalukettu (novel), Asuravithu (novel),Manju (novel), Kaalam (novel), Randamoozham
and Varanasi
Nair's debut novel Pathiravum Pakalvelichavum (Midnight and Daylight) was serialised
in Mathrubhumi Weekly in 1957
...
The title attributes to Nālukettu, a traditional ancestral home (Taravad) of a Nair joint family
...
It contributed to the renewal of a literary tradition
initiated by S
...
Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer and Uroob in
the 1950s
...
It has had 23 reprints and was
translated into 14 languages and had a record sale of a half a million copies (as of 2008) and still
features in the best-seller lists
...
It won the Kerala State Television Award for the year 1996
...
It has the same geophysical and
socio-cultural setting
...
In Asuravithu there are clear indications of the damaging impact of an
alien culture in the pollution of the indigenous culture and the disintegration of the family and the
community
...


His later novels, such as Manju (Mist; 1964) and Kaalam (Time; 1969), are characterised by profuse
lyricism which cannot be found in Naalukettu or Asuravithu
...
Set in the splendid landscape of Nainital, it stands apart as set in a milieu
different from the usual one, the Valluvanadan village
...
However, both Nair and Verma had rejected
these claims
...
Sethu, the protagonist, is toppled over by

the eddies of social, cultural and economic transformation
...
Manju had a film adaptation in 1983,
written and directed by Nair himself
...

Randamoozham (The Second Turn; 1984), retells the story of the Mahabharatha from the point of
view of Bhimasena, supposed to be the son of Vayu; this is demystified or demythified in the novel
...
"I have
not changed the framework of the story by the first Vyasa, Krishna-Dwaipayana
...

Nair's novel Varanasi (2002) is based around a journey to Varanasi, a pilgrim centre in North
India
...
It was well received in the literary circles
but received criticism from critic and painter M
...
Devan
Other works:
Nair wrote the novel Arabi Ponnu (The Gold of Arabia) along with N
...
Mohammed
...

Nair authored two books on the craft of writing—Kaathikante Panippura and Kaathikante Kala—and
his anecdotal columns articles on various topics and speeches on different occasions have been
compiled under the titles Kilivaathililude, Kannanthalippookkalude Kaalam, Vakkukalude
Vismayam and Eekakikalude Sabdam
...

Other activities:
Nair occupied many important positions in various literary bodies, including the presidency of Kerala
Sahitya Akademi and the chairmanship of Tunchan Memorial Trust
...
He served as editor of periodicals and
chief editor of Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly
...
He has directed seven films and written the screenplay for around 54 films
...

Nair wrote his first screenplay in 1965 for Murappennu, at the behest of producer Shobhana
Parameswaran Nair
...
The
Hindu described it as "a well-made film with a compelling plot" and as "one of the most significant
films in the history of Malayalam cinema"
...
It was only
after he began writing screenplays the Malayali viewers began to consider film script as a distinctive

genre which has its own genuine features
...
T who elevated this medium of writing as a
literary form
...
The disintegration of human values and relationship which creates
identity crisis, sense of loss, dehumanisation, alienation from one's own surroundings, etc
...
The best examples
are Kanyakumari, Varikkuzhi, Vilkkanundu Swapnangal, Sadayam, Asuravithu, Edavazhiyile Poocha
Mindappoocha, Akshrangal, Aalkkoottathil Thaniye, Aaroodam etc
...
Another unique feature is the language
employed in them
...
For instance, he gives the legends woven around the popular story
of Perumthachan a new interpretation in his screenplay, based on his own assessment of
Perumthachan's character
...
But
Nair's Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha presents an alternative version of the same legend, as it presents
the incident from Chandu's perspective, suggesting that grave injustice has been done to Chandu by
wrongly accusing him of replacing the rivets
...
The film is about a village oracle whose services are no longer needed by the
community and whose family begins to fall apart
...
Kadavu won awards at the Singapore International Film Festival and Tokyo International Film
Festival
...
He has written songs
for the 1981 film Valarthumrugangal which were set to tune by M
...
Sreenivasan
...
[36] He has also
been a member of Film Finance Corporation, National Film Development Corporation and Film
Censoring Committee
...


Literary style and themes:
Nair was born and brought up in a sylvan village on the banks of Nila
...
Nila occurs and re-occurs in Nair's fiction, as a presence and as
a symbol, endorsing this view
...
The
landscape and ethos of the Valluvanad region and the transformations undergone by them in the
course of the century, involving relics of the tarawad and the communal tensions provide a
challenging theme for the highly evocative style of Vasudevan Nair's narrative art
...

It was in the sixties that Nair rose to prominence as a writer
...
In his opinion, class-war the ideal which had inspired the writers belonging to the preceding
generation had almost lost its relevance by the time he entered the literary career
...
They focussed their attention on social conflict as the
theme for their writings—Conflict between capital and labour, between the landlord and the tenant,
between the oppressor and the oppressed
...
The protagonists of Nair are men out of society and at
war with themselves, a sharp contrast to the heroes of Kesavadev or Thakazhi who fight a losing war
against the hostile forces in the society
...


Personal life and death:
Nair married twice
...
They separated after 11
years of marriage
...

In 1977 he married dance artist Kalamandalam Saraswathi, with whom he had a daughter, dancer
Aswathy Nair
...

He died on 25 December 2024, at the age of 91
...
Despite medical intervention, his condition
worsened, and he suffered a cardiac arrest, leading to his death
...
K
...
P
...
Menon Award
2014: Nalappadan Award 2014 for his Holistic Contributions to Malayalam Literature (Nalappadan
Memorial Cultural Society-NMCS)
2014: Suvarnamudra Award by Guruvayur Naadha Brahmolsavam
2014: A
...
Raja Raja Varma Award
2014: Kakkanadan Award
2014: Balamani Amma Award
2014: Tata-Landmark Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award
2015: O
...
C
...
N
...
Literary Award
2024: Amar Ujala Aakashdeep Award

Film awards
National Film Awards:
Nair won the following National Film Awards:
•

1973: Best Film – Nirmalyam

•

1989: Best Screenplay – Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

•

1991: Best Screenplay – Kadavu

•

1991: Best Feature Film in Malayalam – Kadavu

•

1992: Best Screenplay – Sadayam

•

1994: Best Screenplay – Parinayam

•

2000: Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation – Oru Cheru Punchiri

Kerala State Film Awards:
He won the following Kerala State Film Awards:
•

1970: Best Screenplay – Olavum Theeravum

•

1973: Best Film – Nirmalayam

•

1973: Best Director – Nirmalayam

•

1973: Best Screenplay – Nirmalayam

•

1978: Best Film – Bandhanam

•

1980: Best Story – Oppol

•

1981: Best Screenplay – Thrishna, Valarthu Mrigangal

•

1983: Best Story – Aaroodam

•

1985: Best Story – Anubandham

•

1986: Best Screenplay – Panchagni, Nakhakshathangal

•

1987: Best Screenplay – Amrutham Gamaya

•

1989: Best Screenplay – Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha

•

1990: Best Screenplay – Perumthachan

•

1991: Best Film – Kadavu

•

1991: Best Director – Kadavu

•

1991: Best Screenplay – Kadavu

•

1994: Best Story – Sukrutham

•

1994: Best Screenplay – Parinayam

•

1998: Best Screenplay – Daya

•

2000: Best Director – Oru Cheru Punchiri

•

2009: Best Screenplay – Pazhassi Raja

Kerala Film Critics Association Awards:
He also won Kerala Film Critics Association Awards:
•

1978: Best Screenplay – Bandhanam

•

1980: Best Screenplay – Vilkkanundu Swapnangal

•

1981: Best Story – Valarthumrugangal

•

1982: Best Story – Vaarikuzhi

•

1984: Best Screenplay – Aalkkoottathil Thaniye

•

1985: Best Screenplay – Anubandham

•

1985: Best Story – Anubandham

•

1994: Best Screenplay – Sukrutham

•

1997: Best Screenplay – Ennu Swantham Janakikutty

Other film awards:
Other film awards won by Nair include:
•

1991: Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South

•

1992: Singapore International Film Festival - Special Jury Award – Kadavu

•

1992: Tokyo International Film Festival - Asia Future Prize – Kadavu

•

1996: Kerala State Television Award – Naalukettu

•

2003: Asianet Film Awards – Lifetime Achievement Award

•

2016: Asianet Film Awards – Lifetime Achievement Award

•

2013: J
...
Daniel Award by the Government of Kerala



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