Article on MT
Vipin Gopal
Date: 26-01-1996
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Gave elevated status to short story
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Kerala is the gift of the Bharatapuzha just as Egypt of
the Nile. Much of Kerala's history was written in blood along the
banks of this river. Here kings ruled and poets sang their
sweetest.
One of the greatest gifts of the Bharatapuzha to
Malayalam art and literature has been writer-film director
Madathu Thekkepattu Vasudevan Nair, who has captured in his works
the joys and sorrows of the people living on its banks. He has
held firm to pastoral values, but, in moments of ambivalence,
recognised the savagery of the natural world. To him, the ebb and
flow of the river, representing power, serenity and timelessness,
reveal a harmony that humbles the intrigues of the commercial
world. In recognition of his work, he has now been given the
Jnanapith Award.
``One day, I will make this ``Nalukettu'' (old Nair
mansion) my own,'' declares Appunni, the chief character in
Vasudevan Nair's first novel, ``Nalukettu'' (1958). The
dilapidated mansion might have been a symbol of pre-Independence
Malayalam literature, resting on the foundation of fusty
patterns. Yoking the realistic and the sublime, Vasudevan Nair
evolved a style of prose, closer to poetry, which endeared him to
the masses and ``renovated'' the ``mansion.'' He, thus,
contributed to the renewal of a literary tradition initiated by
Thakazhy Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, Uroob (P.
C. Kuttikrishnan) and S. K. Pottekatt.
Some of Nair's best works depict the conflicts between
traditional family structures in a declining feudal system and
modern economic development. The tensions unfold through the
experiences of their central characters Govindan Kutty in
``Asuravithu'' (1962), Sethu in ``Kalam'' (1969) and Appunni in
``Nalukettu.'' They revolt against the system which denies them
their rights.
Is there a ring of incredulity about Appunni's acceptance
of a Muslim's patronage or Govindan Kutty's refusal to get
converted to another religion even after knowing his sister's
fate? The events were viewed as too idealistic in the Sixties,
but today they may appear awfully commonplace. On this count,
Nair's works call for an egalitarian society, cherishing old-
world values. The writer also addresses the problem of the
individual's alienation from the society. Vimala, the introverted
central character, of the novel, ``Manju'', is forced by society
to come out of her shell.
``Arabipponnu'' (1960), co-written with N. P. Mohammed,
reaffirms Nair's disdain for material culture (``How fast are p73
these cars drawn to each other!,'' ``But for me, everyone is an
agent of Arab money..''). It shows how the inflow of money from
the Gulf has affected Kerala's social and cultural life. The
dominant mood that pervades Nair's stories is feudal nostalgia
(``I will come back. Years, decades and centuries may pass by,
but I will return to this place.'' ``Neelakkunukal'').
Autobiographical games of hide-and-seek and efforts to detect a
``usable'' past are evident in his works. Consequently,
stereotypes and fiction-formulas abound in them.
Vasudevan Nair, along with Karoor and Basheer, elevated
the short story into a major literary branch in Malayalam. His
well-known short-story collections include ``Veyilum Nilavum''
(1954), ``Vedanayude Pookkal'' (1955), ``Olavum Theeravum''
(1957), ``Kuttiyedathy'' (1959), ``Nashtappetta Divasangal''
(1960), ``Bandhanam'' (1963), ``Patanam'' (1966), ``Varikkuzhi''
(1967), ``Ajnathante Uyaratha Smarakam'' (1973). The modernist
style heralded by him was later developed by writers like O. V.
Vijayan, M. Mukundan, Paul Zachariah and Punathil Kunhabdullah.
Some of these modern writers even owe their success to
M.T. While editing the Malayalam literary journal,
``Mathrubhoomi'', he once received a short story for publication
from a Bangalore-based first-timer, Zachariah. Nair was attracted
to the story. He published it and sent a note of appreciation to
its author. Many an up-and-coming Malayalam writers treasure
Nair's critical notes on their works.
MT was born in 1934 at Kudallur in central Kerala. ``He
was an introvert and sensitive boy. An incurable book-lover, he
once transcribed Changampuzha's ``Ramanan'' in his note-book as
its copy was not available. While studying in the eighth class,
Vasu wrote a drama, ``Sivaji Athava Katteli''. He hid its
manuscript behind a big box. But I unearthed it.``When his
father, Thendiyathu Narayanan Nair, returned to Kerala after
working in Sri Lanka for a while, he brought a ten-year-old
Sinhalese refugee, Leela, along. Vasu liked her very much. He was
very sad when Leela was taken back to Sri Lanka after a year. He
wrote a story about her. He began to take his literary career
seriously after graduating in chemistry from the Victoria College
in Palakkad. He taught in a private tutorial for a while, but
left it in 1956 to join the ``Mathrubhoomi'' as a sub-editor.
Twelve years later, he became its editor,'' recalls Karthyayani
Amma, Nair's sister.
Currently, he is the editor of all the periodicals
brought out by the Mathrubhoomi group. One of his major novels in
the Eighties was ``Randamoozham'', which re-tells the Mahabharata
story with Bhima as its hero. The writer strips the valiant
Pandava of his mythical attributes and brings out the human being
in him. The novel was given the Vayalar Award.
Incidents leave deep impressions on Nair. He was
hospitalised in 1976 and 1986. He then found, like Whitman, that
``death was the meeting place of ecstasy and annihilation.'' ``I
heard death hissing melodious the final mystery of existence. I
sunk into depression after my whole body was filled with pus in
1986. Even after recovery, I didn't read and write for a year,''
Nair remembers. The movie, ``Sukrutham'', screened in this year's
Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of
India, is based on the story of Nair's battle against his
diseases.
MT was one of the major influences behind Malayalam
cinema's breakthrough into realist territory with ``Olavum
Theeravum'' (1969). Nair's debut film was ``Nirmalyam'' (The
Offering), which tells the tale of an indigent oracle, Velichapad
(P. J. Antony), in a neglected village temple. When smallpox
breaks out, villagers return to the temple and a festival is put
up. On the final day of the fete, the Velichapad finds his
teenaged daughter has been seduced by the young priest
(Sukumaran) and that his wife (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) has been
selling herself to keep the wolf from the door. The movie ends
with a touching expressionist scene. As he performs the final
ceremony, the oracle dances before the idol of the goddess and
spits at it for having let him down. He strikes his forehead with
the ceremonial sword till he dies.
Nair directed only five more films, all based on his own
stories. His recent directorial venture was a video adaptation of
``Nalukettu''. His films, intensely melodramatic, have been
fuelled by literary imagination instead of pictorial ideation.
The accent has been on the verbal and not on the visual.
He has been the most popular scenarist in Malayalam since
the Sixties. He wrote the screenplays for acclaimed movies such
as ``Murappennu'' (1965), ``Nagarame Nandi'' (1967), ``Pakal
Kinavu'' (1966), ``Iruttinte Atmavu'' (1967), P. N. Menon's
``Kuttiyedathy'' (1971), Sethumadhavan's ``Kanyakumari'' (1974),
``Oppol'' (1980), I. V. Sasi's ``Aroodam'' (1983), ``Alkoottathil
Thaniye'' (1984), ``Adiyozhukkukal'' (1984), ``Uyarangalil''
(1984), Pratap Pothen's ``Rithubhedam'' (1987) and Ajayan's
``Perunthachan''. Just about all the hits of director Hariharan
``Edavazhiyile Poocha Minda Poocha'' (1979),
``Valarthumrigangal'' (1981), ``Evidayo Oru Shatru'' (1983),
``Vellam'' (1984), ``Panchagni'' (1986), ``Amritham Gamaya''
(1987) and ``Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha'' (1989) owe their
achievement to Nair's powerful screenplays.
sup...@rahul.net
writes quoting from Hindu on M.T:
>.....................................................``When his
>father, Thendiyathu Narayanan Nair, returned to Kerala after
>working in Sri Lanka for a while, he brought a ten-year-old
>Sinhalese refugee, Leela, along. Vasu liked her very much. He was
>very sad when Leela was taken back to Sri Lanka after a year.
Having read almost every bit of his published works, fiction or
otherwise I can't help say that this story "Ninde Ormakku"
(In your memory), not it's original name, has had a profound
impact on me. In one of his articles much later he had touched
upon his mental makeup during the time he had written this story,
more than a decade after the actual incident took place. From
a very early age he was extremely aware of the fact that his parents
wanted a girl after 3 sons in his place and always wondered what
he could do to rectify this;-)
He toyed with the idea of writing this story for a long time but
something he couldn't decide on was, from whose perspective it should
be ? Should it be from that little girl's , whose thoughts were as
foreign to him as her language, or his enigmatic Dad's or should
he look at it through the eyes of that confused wife, who was
almost convinced that the girl was her husband's illegitimate
daughter. Since the last argument was never proved the best he
could do was write the story from his own perspective, how it
affected the life of a 10 year old "running around in a torn
red shorts..".
Like many of his stories, this was something that was finally
written during a spur of inspiration, knowing completely about the
ramifications it could have on his family, which I thought
strangely captures the social intricacies of us Nairs, even to
this day. This story as the saying goes, was never edited it
seems. The first line of this story reminded me of the first
line of the Daphne Du Maurier classic, the protagonist's reminiscence
about something so important and still couldn't hang
on to that no where but in memories. The second line kind of
substantiates the argument about editing, that he goes on to say
who Leela was since suddenly he thought the reader could relate
this character to a lost love or old flame, which would completely
spoil the tone of the story.
One interesting observation I had was the kid , Vasu, always
wanted to believe that the girl was his step sister.. There are
no words to explain the anguish in that kid's mind when he stumbles
upon on the fact that no one would like Leela to stay with them.
Her gift to Vasu on the day she and 'his' father left home, the
"rubber moonga" (A perfume with an alien fragrance boxed in a
toy owl made of rubber) was a sort of binding factor between those
kids for the rest of their lives, though they never met each other.
Over the years I've had the opportunity to discuss this story
with many people and very rarely has one admitted to not having
cried reading this story, just like it's author after writing it.
Still there is one answer I'm hunting for ? Why did he finally
chose the eve of Leela's marriage to write this story ? There are
many arguments and I'm convinced by none...
To the greatest living story teller of Malabar,
-AS.