Adieu to MT Vasudevan Nair

The words are silent now. But they will continue to run in our veins. MT Vasudevan Nair’s output as a literary figure is inestimable- be his works like Randanoozham (a retelling of a the Mahabharat from the point of view of Bheema) Irutinde Atmaav, Naalukettu or Asura Vitha.

The human predicament was at the heart of MT Vasudevan’s writing. He gently pointed out to human foibles and how fragile relationships are in the face of patriarchal values and tradition. You see a lot of that in Nirmalyam and Neelathamara. You see his biting criticism of the exodus of poor Malayalees to the Gulf, the then promised land in Vilkaanund Swapnangal.

The MT I discovered was through the movies most ironically in IV Sasi films like Alkootatil Thaniye, Aksharangal and Aroodam. He was never didactic. He shone a light upon our frailties that shape us and break us in turns. If Balan K Nair is a flawed patriarch in Alkootathil who selfishly thought for the best for his son, Mammootty was the flawed literary character who could never be bogged down by marriage in Aksharangal. In all these films Seema played the other woman written with the finesse and nuance that only MT could have imagined. Same for Vadakan Veera Gatha. He reimagined the story from the fallen hero’s Chanthu’s point of view and corrects a few fallacies about the fallen hero.

A writer imagines and creates a world for us to inhabit. He helps us to identify his characters and creates a world through his empathy. We find a bit of ourselves in every character that he wrote. In their strength lies our strength, in their weakness lies ours. One of his most brutal works is Sadayam. The final scene is especially chilling. Death is sometimes the only hope he has to offer. MT Vasudevan Nair never held out false hope. He drew a world for you which was unremitting and sometimes even unsparing. In the poetry of his words, his gaze was unflinching. He may have moved on gently to another world but his words will continue to remind us that the brutal and the beautiful are two sides of the same coin.

Go gently into the night sir.

See Also: Malayalam writer, filmmaker MT Vasudevan Nair passes awayMT Vasudevan Nair’s output as a literary figure is inestimable. Continue reading …Read More