The Hindu : National : Lyricist-filmmaker P. Bhaskaran dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 26, 2007
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National

National

Lyricist-filmmaker P. Bhaskaran dead

Special Correspondent

— Photo: S. Gopakumar

P. Bhaskaran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P. Bhaskaran, one of Kerala's finest lyricists, a poet of immense calibre and a President's Medal-winning filmmaker, died here on Sunday. He was 83.

One of the few in Malayalam to combine literary and directorial skills, his contributions to both aspects of filmmaking have been equally outstanding. Yet, his songs, with their special stamp of colloquial diction and lyrical charm, are an inseparable ingredient of Malayali consciounesness.

The first from Malayalam to win the President's Medal for excellence in filmmaking, for Neelakkuyil in 1954, Bhaskaran `Master' was a dominant presence in Malayalam cinema for nearly three-and-a-half decades. He directed 50 films. He penned over 3,000 film songs, beginning with a few lines for S.S. Vasan's Tamil film Apoorvasahodararkal in 1949.

In 1967 he won the President's Medal for best film with a progressive social message for Iruttinte Aathmaav, based on Malayalam writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair's eponymous novel.

He made his last film in 1989. He later served as the chairman of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC).

Born on April 21, 1924, at Kodungalloor, he was a political activist-turned poet and filmmaker. He became active first in the Congress movement and later in the Communist Party during his student days, and was imprisoned. His poem `Vayalar Garjikkunnu' is considered the finest literary articulation of the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising in 1946 against feudalism and state oppression, a landmark in the annals of the Communist movement in the State.

Bhaskaran won the Kerala Sahithya Akademi award in 1982 for Ottakkampiyulla Thamburu, a collection of poems. He had several collections of poems to his credit.

He won several awards at the State level. The Kerala Government honoured him in 1994 with the J.C. Daniel Award for lifetime achievement in filmmaking.

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