S. Jayachandran Nair

S. Jayachandran Nair (1939 – 2 January 2025) was an Indian journalist, writer and screenwriter from the south Indian state of Kerala. He was known for his journalistic activities which included the founding of Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika, a Malayalam language newsweekly and website published by The New Indian Express group as well as for his association with the award winning films, Piravi and Swaham, both directed by Shaji N. Karun. He was the author of a number of literary works in Malayalam for which he received honors such as Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Biography and Autobiography, National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema, K. Balakrishnan Award, K. C. Sebastian Award, M. V. Pylee Journalism Award, K. Vijayaraghavan Smaraka Puraskaram and C. H. Mohammed Koya Journalism Award.

Biography S. Jayachandran Nair was born in 1939 at Sreevaraham, a residential area in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the south Indian state of Kerala. After graduating from the University College Thiruvananthapuram, he joined Kerala Kaumudi as an editorial staff in 1957. Though he moved to Malayalashabdham, a weekly published from Kollam, in 1967, he returned to Kaumudi group and became the associate editor of Kalakaumudi, when the weekly was launched in 1975. Later, he became the editor of the weekly where he served until 1997 and moved to The New Indian Express Group to become the founder editor of Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika, a weekly started by the Group. He worked there till 2012 when he retired from active service.

Achievements Jayachandran Nair was known to have been instrumental in bringing the literary column, Sahithya Varaphalam, written by M. Krishnan Nair to Kalakaumudi and Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika, when he was serving as the editor of those weeklies. His autobiography, Ente Pradhakshina Vazhikal, won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Biography and Autobiography in 2012. He was closely associated with the new wave Malayalam cinema and he entered the field in 1989, by producing the debut film of Shaji N. Karun, Piravi for which he also wrote the story. The film went on to win a number of awards, including the Caméra d'Or — Mention Spéciale at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Later, in 1989. he wrote the screenplay for another Shaji N. Karun venture, the award winning movie, Swaham. He published a work on the filmmaker G. Aravindan under the title, Mounaprararthana Pole in 2018 which won the National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2018. His career came to an end in 2012, following a controversy involving his decision to stop publishing a poem written by Prabha Varma in his weekly. This is known to have caused a friction between him and the owners of the publication.

Nair died from age-related illnesses in Bengaluru, on 2 January 2025, at the age of 85.

Awards

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Biography and Autobiography National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema K. Balakrishnan Memorial Award M. V. Pylee Journalism Award K. Vijayaraghavan Smaraka Puraskaram C. H. Mohammed Koya Journalism Award

Books