MT Vasudevan Nair and the Magic of Neela River

MT Vasudevan Nair, whose death is mourned by thousands of Keralites around the world, was a writer who defied easy categorization. | Photo Credit: Saju John

MT Vasudevan Nair, whose death is mourned by thousands of Keralites around the world, was a writer who defied easy categorization.

Dubbed a romantic egomaniac in his youth, he was seen by many as the true successor to Changampuzha, the tragically talented lyric poet who cut his life short in his prime. In fact MT went through a midlife crisis that brought him to the brink of death, only to return in a new incarnation of the type characterized by sustained activity spanning more than half a century. His artistic career is bracketed between two influential schools in our literary milieu, one called progressive realism and the other modernism. His writings were clearly at odds with the notion of literature as a weapon of class struggle. At the same time, he did not feel attracted to the existentialist overtones that marked the modernist onslaught of the late 1960s and 70s.

MT was one of the leading literary editors that Kerala has seen in recent times with an unparalleled talent for spotting promising young writers. There was something casual about his entry into the celluloid world. But he quickly emerged as a screenwriter, credited with shaping or reshaping the cinematic profile of three big stars. He proved his mettle as an organizer by his efforts to set up a befitting memorial to Thunchathu Ejuthachan, the father of the Malayalam language.

His ambition was to create something out of his small village of Cuddalore in the form of William Faulkner’s fictional kingdom, Yoknapatawpha. His early short stories and three of his novels are set in this village on the banks of the river Nila. In it he depicts the silent whispers and silent despair of the helpless people caught in the conflict of feudal decay. His revenge-obsessed heroes, pitted against the ruthless practices of a dying feudal age, somehow resonate with Malayalam readers, touching a raw chord within. And MT is the author of Pause and Silence who chooses suggestive understatement over direct argument. His novel Randamuzham (The Second Turn) where he attempted to mythologize or demystify the Mahabharata story, soon translated into various Indian languages ​​and became an all-time bestseller.

One only needs to look at the staged or highly dramatic nature of screenplays in Malayalam to realize the change he has brought about in his more nuanced way of telling stories. He has written more than fifty screenplays and directed nine films. Many will recall the way he recreated the character of Chanthu, a rebel in folk songs, giving him a deeply tragic quality. It comes from the collaboration of MT and Bharatan ThajwaramA film inspired by Hollywood Westerns, set in a brooding landscape. is his signature work as a director Nirmalayamwhich won the National Award for the best film of the year. Here he foresaw the disastrous consequences of modern day commercialization undermining the peace and harmony of the traditional way of life.

The blue river still flows, its surface deceptively calm. But gone is the master storyteller who probed the mystery of its dark undercurrents.

(The author is a literary critic and film producer)