Malayattoor Ramakrishnan

K. V. Ramakrishna Iyer, better known by his pen name Malayattoor Ramakrishnan (27 May 1927 – 27 December 1997), was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature, cartoonist, lawyer, judicial magistrate, and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He was best known for his novels, short stories and biographical sketches and his works include Yanthram, Verukal, Yakshi and Service Story – Ente IAS Dinangal. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel in 1967. He was also a recipient of the Vayalar Award in 1979.

Biography

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan was born on 27 May 1927, at Kalpathi, a village renowned for Kalpathi Ratholsavam, in Palakkad to K.R. Viswanatha Iyer, a government official, and his wife, Janaki Ammal, as one of their six children. The family later settled down in Thottuva, near Cheranallur, near the banks of the Periyar River. His schooling was at various schools in Kerala, traveling with his father whose work carried him to many places in the state and he started his college education at Union Christian College, Aluva where he had the opportunity to study under the known critic, Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai. It was during this period, he participated in the Indian independence movement for which he was incarcerated for a week. Later, he graduated from the University College Thiruvananthapuram and worked as a tutor at his alma mater, Union Christian College, Aluva, for a while. Jayaram, noted Malayalam film actor, is his nephew.

Legacy Besides his administrative career, Ramakrishnan's contributions cover the fields of journalism, literature, cartoons and films. The novel was later translated into English by V. Abdulla and published by Orient Longman. Two years later, he published Ponni (1967), which was based on the lifestyle of Adivasis of Attappady at Malleswaram Hills. In 1981, he resigned from the Indian Administrative Service to concentrate more on writing and it was during the period from 1981 to 1997 that his more famous works, viz. Yakshi, Yanthram, Nettoor Mathom and Amritham Thedi, were written. He also wrote Service Story – Ente IAS Dinangal, which documents his memoirs of his career as a bureaucrat.

Ramakrishnan entered the film industry in 1968 with Lakshaprabhu, a P. Bhaskaran film, for which he provided the story, screenplay and dialogues. Overall, he wrote the screenplay and dialogues for four more films such as Chayam, Gayathri, Panchami and Kalki and another six films viz. Yakshi, Chembarathi, Ponni, Sharapanjaram, Iyer the Great and Akam were based on his story. He was also the director of the 1982 movie, Odukkam Thudakkam, produced by M. O. Joseph which was based on his own story and he himself wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the film. Two film songs have been written by him, one for his directorial venture, Odukkam Thudakkam and the other for the movie, Kalki.

Awards and honours Kerala Sahitya Akademi selected Verukal for their annual award for novels in 1967. He received the Vayalar Award in 1979 for the novel, Yanthram. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan Charitable Trust, an eponymous charitable organization, have instituted two awards, the Malayattoor Painting and Sculpture Award for recognising excellence in fine arts and the Malayattoor Award for honouring literary excellence in Malayalam language. M. V. Devan, the noted painter and sculptor, was one among the many recipients of the Malayattoor Painting and Sculpture Award while Prabha Varma, T. D. Ramakrishnan and Perumbadavam Sreedharan feature among the literary award winners.