Years ago, I called up author MT Vasudevan Nair, as I had done on a few occasions before, to seek his views on adapting literary works for the screen.
I was surprised when he said, “I’m sorry, I’m not able to talk about movies.”
After a pause, he argued: “I am first and foremost a writer, not a filmmaker.”
This was from the man who won a National Award for his directorial debut, Nirmalyam in 1973 – based on his 1950s story ‘Pallivalam Kalachilambam’ – and admirably made six more films, including a documentary on writer Thakazhi Sivasankar Pillai. Even before then he had established himself as a distinguished screenwriter, and lent a literary quality to scripts in Malayalam – a path followed by many screenwriters.
And here he was declaring that he was not qualified to comment about screen adaptations of literary works. There was a rare intellectual honesty about this statement, as I later discovered when I read an interview where he admitted that he found some of his films inferior to his stories or the novels from which they took inspiration. “Cinema is partly technology, partly creativity. The writing is much better,” he confirmed. In another interview, he said that he often felt that some of his film scripts would have been much better as stories or novels.
A scene from MT Vasudevan Nair’s directorial debut Nirmalyam (1973)
Focus on Young Male Reader
Come to think of it, he was probably indicating that his films, especially the screenplays he wrote, were separate from his mainstream literary activity, which began in his early 20s.
Kerala in the 1950s and 60s was witnessing a unique structural change in society, and young persons – in particular, upper caste young persons – caught in the quagmire of a rapidly disintegrating feudal system, attracted the attention of MT. Did. His early heroes were lonely, confused, and full of self-doubt – something that the youth of the time easily identified with. From Appunni (nalukettu) to Govindankutty (asuravithu) and bridge (Kalam), he struck a chord with the young male reader, his everyday woes instantly becoming his.
By MT’s own admission, he was ‘obsessed’ with the theme of the oppressed individual who was unjustly oppressed by society, in this case a society characterized by decadence. Exposure to world literature and the deep influence of writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, William Faulkner, and Henrik Ibsen were also evident in his early works. Pathiravum Pakalvelichavum (1957), his first novel, references Ibsen public enemy, With a character explaining why the only person swimming upstream is the strongest.
While his works paved the way for modernism in Malayalam literature, it was greatly aided by a society familiar with the trends and customs of world literature. Thakazhi, SK Pottekkat, Urub and Vaikom Mohammad Bashir were big names in the days when MT plowed the lonely fields. Intro to Bashir Anuragathinte Dinangal ,days of intimacy) – It was MT who changed the original title, diary of a lover – Recalls his long association with MT Bashir, whom he called Bashir Teacher, And other great litterateurs of Kozhikode and how it enriched their lives and works. A special memory is a story by Bashir about a pickpocket who, in a rare display of humanitarianism, comes to the rescue of his victim.
universal humanity
What’s interesting is when MT talks about his strong bond with filmmaker Ramu Kariat, whom he fondly calls ‘a wild man like me’, and with writer NP Mohammed, with whom he wrote the novel arbiponnu (1960), the emphasis is on his human side. It would not be wrong to say that the ‘universal humanism’, which marked the Nehru era, also entered the consciousness of MT.
Question “Moideen, are you human?” By Moideen’s mother Fatima Pathiravum PakalvelichavumHis work over the years seems to have been filled with existential anxiety and dilemma. like the man in his story Neelakkunnukal ,blue hillS), who is caught between the material enjoyment of the modern world and the serene peace of rural life. Shades of the same are prevalent in the nominal Randomoozham ,second turn) ‘humanised’ Bhima, on the plight of a tribal, in a brilliant interpretation of the ‘pause and silence’ left by the poet Vyas Mahabharata,
The works of MT Vasudevan Nair paved the way for modernism in Malayalam literature. , Photo Courtesy: S Mahinsha
MT endeared itself to readers like me by single-handedly speaking up for what critics called ‘superfluous heroes’ and the marginalized and maligned. It wasn’t their fault, but they all sinned, he kept telling us in his stories and movies.
A few years ago, I went to his home in Kozhikode, Seethara, in search of a signed book for a library being set up by a friend of the college where he taught. “Do you have a specific book in mind?” MT asked me. “Your collection of stories, sir,” I told him. “And I want you to sign it,” I added.
“They’re all signed by me,” he muttered before handing me a signed copy.
anandan.s@thehindu.co.in
published – January 02, 2025 04:24 PM IST
