M. Sukumaran (1943 – 16 March 2018) was an Indian writer of

Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary text ...

, best known for his novels and short stories with political undertones. ''Marichittillathavarude Smarakangal'', ''Seshakriya'', ''Chuvanna Chihnangal'' and ''Janithakam'' feature among his works and five of his stories have been adapted into films. A two time recipient of the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Story The Kerala State Film Award for Best Story is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Award of India to a writer for the best story in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Departme ...

, Sukumaran received the

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story is an award given every year by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy) to Malayalam writers for writing a narrative, story of literary merit. It is one of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award#A ...

in 1976 and the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 2006.

Biography

M. Sukumaran was born in 1943 at

Chittur Chittur-Thathamangalam is a town and municipality in the Palakkad district of Kerala State, India. It is the headquarters of Chittur taluk, southeast of Palakkad, on the banks of the Kannadipuzha, a major headstream of the Bharathapuzha, ...

in Palakkad District of the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

to Narayana Mannadiar and Meenakshi Amma. After completing his school education, he started his career at a sugar factory. Moving to

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

in 1963, he joined the Accountant General's office as a clerk, after which he was also active in trade union activities as a member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

. His political activities led to his termination i 1974, reported to be the first time a central government employee was terminated by a Presidential order. Later, he was known to have been disappointed with the

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

and his portrayal of a disillusioned politician in his novel, ''Seshakriya'', resulted in his expulsion from the party in 1982. Sukumaran was married to Meenakshi and the couple had a daughter, Rajani. He died on March 16, 2018, aged 75, at

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), formerly Sree Chitra Tirunal Medical Center, is an Institution of National Importance in India established in 1976 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The institute is a sta ...

, Thiruvananthapuram where he was undergoing treatment for heart-related illnesses. Rajani, is also a writer, writing under the name, Rajni Mannadiar.

Legacy

Sukumaran, who was known to have started writing from the age of 16, published his first story, ''Mazhathullikal'', in

Malayala Manorama '' Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew, it was first published as a weekly on 14 March 1888, and currently has a rea ...

, in 1963, when he was 20 years. He continued writing until his death, occasionally taking long breaks in between, to publish three novels and over 50 short stories which include ''Sheshakriya'', ''Chuvanna Chihnangal'', ''Janithakam'', ''Thookkumarangal Njangalkku'', ''Marichittillaathavarude Smaarakangal'', ''Para'', ''Azhimukham'' and ''Vanchikkunnampathi''. Five of his stories have been adapted into films, viz. ''

Sanghaganam ''Sanghaganam'' () is a 1979 Indian Malayalam-language political drama film directed by P. A. Backer based on a story by M. Sukumaran and starring Sreenivasan, Ramu Karyat, P. R. Nambyar and Madhu Master. Plot An unemployed youth decides to ...

'', '' Sheshakriya'', '' Kazhakam'', ''

Margam Margam is a suburb and community (Wales), community of Port Talbot in the Wales, Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being l ...

'' and ''

Unarthupattu ''Unarthupattu'' () is a 1980 Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé dist ...

'' of which he wrote the screenplay for Sheshakriya. He also wrote a biographical book, ''Swadeshabhimani, Kelappan, Abdur Rahiman'', which featured the biographies of

Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai K. Ramakrishna Pillai (1878–1916) was an Indian nationalist writer, journalist, editor, and political activist. He edited '' Swadeshabhimani'' (The Patriot), the newspaper which became a potent weapon against the rule of the British and th ...

, K. Kelappan and

Mohammed Abdur Rahiman Mohammed Abdur Rahiman Sahib (1898 – 23 November 1945) was an Indian freedom fighter, Muslim leader, scholar, and politician from Kerala. He served as president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(Malabar) in 1939. Early life and educatio ...

, as a part of a biographical series, ''Mahacharithangaliloode''.

Awards and honours

Sukumaran received the

in 1976 for his short story anthology, ''Marichittillathavarude Smarakam''. The film, '' Sheshakriya'' fetched him his first

in 1981; he would receive the award again in 1995 for the film, '' Kazhakam''. In between, he received the inaugural

Padmarajan Award The Padmarajan Award (Padmarajan Puraskaram) is instituted by Padmarajan Memorial Trust in memory of author and filmmaker P. Padmarajan. The award was initially given for two categories—Best Short Story and Best Feature Film—but have since i ...

for his book, ''Pithru Tharpanam''.

Kerala Sahitya Akademi The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam Literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and Malayalam literature, literature. It is situated in the city of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The acad ...

honoured him again in 2003 with the award for overall contributions in 2003 and

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

selected his short story anthology, ''Chuvanna Chinnangal'', for their annual award in 2006.

Bibliography

Novels

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Short story anthologies

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Non fiction

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sukumaran, M 1943 births Malayalam short story writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award Malayalam-language writers Writers from Kerala Indian male short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers Writers from Palakkad district 20th-century Indian male writers Kerala State Film Award winners 2018 deaths Indian screenwriters 20th-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers