MT Vasudevan Nair — eminent writer in Malayalam known for his secular, inclusive and progressive vision — turned 90 on 15 July.
MT Vasudevan Nair at work. (Shaju John)
“The moment had been there waiting for us on the long road of time. Gasping for breath, running with faltering feet, you finally have come within a hand’s distance of that moment. The moment that had been there waiting for you from time immemorial.” — MT Vasudevan Nair in ‘Manju’ (The Mist).
The agony of loneliness enveloped Vimala Devi like the mist that swept down on Nainital, where Madath Thekkepat Vasudevan Nair — or MT, two profound letters for Malayalis — placed his few characters in Manju.
Her long wait for Sudhir Kumar Misra is matched by boatman Buddhu’s search for his “white” father among the tourists, armed only with a fading photograph. MT painted a poignant picture of their lives with memories, puissant emotions, anticipation, and time that remain etched in minds like Van Gogh’s impasto brush strokes — indelible and inspiring.
Time is a motif in MT’s works, forcefully recurring, reminders of the futility of modern lives chasing materialistic pleasures, like Sethu Madhavan in Kaalam (Time). Similar to Vimala, Sethu, too, was lonely in the company of memories, both sweet and bitter. Like the same memories — of his father taking him to discover ice on that distant afternoon — that came gushing back to Colonel Aureliano Buendía, “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…”
It, too, deals with time, and the loneliness Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Buendia experienced during his prolonged wait in deadly anticipation. Keralites read and re-read the iconic opening sentence of One Hundred Years of Solitude in stupendous awe after MT introduced the Colombian novelist — like many other literary greats — to the Malayali audience, eagerly waiting for novel and captivating literary experiences.
Each experience was a celebration, often melancholic, and certainly nostalgic that MT offered with his every work — and those from world literature that he introduced in Kerala.
The patriarch of Malayalam literature, MT turned 90 on Saturday, 15 July. Undoubtedly the most prolific among Malayalam novelists and writers, he excelled as a filmmaker, scenarist, and literary journalist.
MT’s works are bound to transcend time and enthrall many generations to come. (Shaju John)
For Keralites worldwide, the month of Karkkadakom in the Malayalam calendar symbolises poverty and misery. “I was born in Karkkadakam when low-income families faced extreme scarcity of essentials. So never in my childhood and youth did I celebrate my birthday,” MT said.
But Malayalis across the world are celebrating the birthday on Saturday of the towering author who ushered in a new aesthetic sensibility to literature by reinterpreting Mahabharata through the eyes of Bhima in his acclaimed work, Randamoozham (The Second Turn).
The crafty wordsmith of lost birthdays later wrote a famous short story titled Oru Pirannalinte Orma or Memories of a Birthday. The story that won wide acclaim began by saying, Nale ente pirannaalaanu (Tomorrow is my birthday).
Though miserly with words, MT, apart from contributing immensely to Malayalam literature, also carved for himself a niche space in the Malayalam tinsel world by penning and directing several highly popular movies.
As a long-time editor of The Mathrubhumi, he played a significant role in finding, nourishing, and positioning promising Malayalam writers after him. He did it with sheer passion and dedication, and his blue-pencilling polished the works of newcomers, making them shine in the galaxy of litterateurs.
MT Vasudevan Nair. with a friend at Tirur Thunchan Parambu. (Shaju John)
A literary genius, MT might be the most translated writer in Malayalam. His writings reflected the inner conflicts of alienated people, at the crossroads of life, caught in a dilemma, whether to turn back or move forward. In the process, he gave a limpid form to the elusive dreams and sorrows of the marginalised souls.
Govindan Kutty, the protagonist of his highly acclaimed novel Asuravithu (Demon Seed), who represents the dehumanisation of humans by an insensitive society, aptly illustrates the magical realism of the illuminating prose of the gifted writer.
Except for a few works like Manju, MT always drew his characters from his surroundings, mostly from the crumbling feudal Nair families severely impacted by the land reform movement.
The world MT created in Nalukettu, Asuravithu, Manju, Kaalam, Vilapayatra, and Randamoozham radiates haunting drama, heightened by the fluidic and poetic quality of his prose.
By his own account, MT broke into the Malayalam literary scene with the short story Valarthumrigangal (Domesticated Animals) that captured the woes of circus artistes, and won the first prize in a competition organised by The New York Herald Tribune in association with The Hindustan Times and Mathrubhumi.
MT is perhaps the most translated author in Malayalam. (Supplied)
MT has nine novels to his credit, besides 18 volumes of short stories, two travelogues, five literary studies books — one on his favourite author, Ernest Hemingway — a play, and two books for children.
He also evolved a highly evocative Malayalam film idiom with his first movie Murappennu (First Cousin). The film won the President’s Silver Medal in 1965. Over the years, MT has won numerous awards for film scripting and direction.
Nirmalyam, a film scripted, directed, and produced by MT, won the President’s Gold Medal in 1973. The movie is now oft referred to whenever religious fanatics launch an attack on artistic freedom and expression.
He has won several state, national, and international awards for literature and films. The honours include the Padma Bhushan, the Jnanpith in 1996, and the Kerala and Kendra Sahitya Academy awards.
MT is now active as the chairman of the Thunchan Memorial Trust, a body in memory of the Malayalam language’s father figure, Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan.
Former civil service officer and writer NS Madhavan describes MT as the personal pride of every Malayali and a towering icon in Indian literature.
He terms MT as the first organically independent Malayalam writer who broke free of innumerable shackles that bog down a writer.
“He initiated a new path in the Malayalam literary world and was original and organically independent,” says Madhavan.
Like in the case of Manju, MT chose to explore unfamiliar territories in Arabiponnu or Gold from Arabia co-written with NP Muhammed. It explored how Arabs reached the Malabar coast and initiated a cultural exchange.
Some of his works revolve around Kadukannava in erstwhile Cylone, now Sri Lanka, where his father worked.
According to Madhavan, MT ably demonstrated the skill to narrate the familiar and unfamiliar with elan. Poet Rafeeq Ahammed observes that MT evolved a unique style that has never been influenced by his constant engagements with fellow writers, stalwarts like Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, and SK Pottekkatt. MT often described Basheer — the Beypore Sultan — as his guru.
MT Vasudevan Nair. (Shaju John)
A man of minimal words who found comfort in silence, MT preferred to stay aloof from partisan politics and controversies. His silence was his defence even when fellow writer T Padmanabhan attacked him, even personally, mostly over trivial matters.
However, MT never hid his larger political identity as a Left-liberal, truly secular and inclusive in perspective. He became the powerful voice of solidarity and amity on occasions like the demolition of Babri Masjid, protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the police firing on the landless tribals of Muthanga in Wayanad.
He also espoused the causes of sustainable development that address the survival needs of the poor and oppressed, who often find themselves pushed into the shadows in society’s backyard.
On numerous occasions, MT wrote about the mental trauma he suffered because of the increasing levels of intolerance prevailing around India. He always wanted a cultural resistance against the forces hellbent on wreaking havoc on India’s coexistence, plurality, and diversity. For him, freedom of expression is paramount.
Across the world, very few writers have earned popular admiration like MT in Kerala. People outside the realm of literature identify him as a powerful cultural icon.
MT ushered in a new aesthetic sensibility to literature by reinterpreting Mahabharata through the eyes of Bhima. (Supplied)
While celebrates his 90th birthday, some of his close associates are exploring a suggestion his only daughter Aswathy Nair, a Bharathanatyam dancer, has put forward.
As part of the project, nine short films will be made by eminent film personalities, including Santosh Sivan, Priyadarsan, and Jayaraj, under the common title Manorathangal (Mindscapes), and they would be released together.
Each film promises to be a fulfilling experience lasting 40 minutes, and they will all be based on MT’s short stories. They will be released soon.
Delivering the keynote address at the Mathrubhumi Literature Festival held in Thiruvananthapuram in February this year, the Jnanpith-winning author said that writers and intellectuals should stay alert so that the state of Nazi Germany does not happen in the country.
Such insight and political acumen helps MT stay afloat among fortune seekers and those who prostrate before the power structures.
Even two days before his Navathi — or 90th birthday — MT spoke about the need to respect minority rights and resist attempts to unilaterally implement the Uniform Civil Code.
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