M.T. Vasudevan Nair, legendary Indian author, screenwriter and director, died Wednesday, Dec. 25 at a hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, days after suffering cardiac arrest, the Times of India reports. He was 91.
One of the masters of post-Independence Indian literature, Nair was known for his evocative portrayal of nostalgia and human emotions. He penned his first major novel, Naalukettu (The Legacy), at the age of 23, followed by Manju (Mist), Kaalam (Time), Asuravithu (The Demon Seed), and Randamoozham (The Second Turn), which is widely considered to be his masterpiece.
Nair went on to become a renowned screenwriter and director in Malayalam cinema. His first screenplay, Murappennu in 1965, an adaptation of his story “Snehathinte Mukhangal”, was described by The Hindu as “one of the most significant films in the history of Malayalam cinema”. His subsequent screenplays for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989), Kadavu (1991), Sadayam (1992), and Parinayam (1994), each won the national award for best screenplay, the most awards for anyone in the screenplay category.
Over the course of his career, Nair directed seven films and penned the screenplay for more than 54 films. He made his directorial debut in 1973 with Nirmalyam, a film about a village oracle whose services are no longer needed by the community and whose family begins to fall apart. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Subsequent films he scripted and directed, including the award-Bandhanam, Kadavu, which won awards at the Singapore and Tokyo international film festivals, and Oru Cheru Punchiri,[set in 16th-century Kerala. His work also includes three documentaries.
He most recently penned the television series Manorathangal, an Indian Malayalam-language anthology of nine featurettes based on a curated selection of Nair’s short stories. All nine episodes dropped in August.
