A comrade and a scenarist

Those were turbulent days of the Communist uprising in Alappuzha. The Communists who camped at the nearby villages of Punnapra and Vayalar prepared to take on the mighty Travancore army with sharpened lances made out of arecanut trees and chilli paste. It was a fight against the Diwan’s rule. These protests culminated in police firing at Punnapra resulting in the death of many party workers. The leaders of the Communist Party knew that Vayalar was the next target of the army. To prevent genocide they discussed strategies to counter it. Finally, they decided to demolish the Mararikulam Bridge, which was a link between Cherthala and Ambalapuzha taluks. A squad was constituted for this mission. They moved to the spot and began work no knowing that the army was close on their heels. Suddenly there was gunfire and more than a dozen party workers died. The rest of them managed to escape. The police registered cases and began investigations.

Among the accused in this action was a schoolboy named Sadanandan. He was studying at Govt. Boys High School, Cherthala. Sensing that he was in school the police rushed there. Seeing the police Sadananadan jumped out of the window and escaped. This brought an end to his education as he was forced to go into hiding.

While in hiding at Kottarakkara, Sadanandan was tracked down by a police team headed by inspector Sathyanesan Nadar. Sadanandan was subjected to severe interrogation. A police constable told the inspector that the boy was actively involved in theatre. The inspector asked him to act out the scene of demolishing the bridge. But Sadanandan refused to do so. Nadar put Sadanandan through third-degree punishment forcing him to give in and enact the scene. Later, the court sentenced Sadanandan to one-year imprisonment.

Soon after his release, Sadanandan wrote and published

Kalpadukal , a collection of short stories. Life took a strange turn. Inspector Sathyanesan Nadar quit his job and joined Malayalam films. He adopted the name Sathyan and went on to become a trailblazer for his natural and realistic style of acting. And Sadanandan established himself as a popular scenarist.

Born in Kanjikuzhy, a small village on April 15, 1928 as the son of Narayanan and Karthyayani, Sadanandan was drawn to the Communist movement at a very young age. He was one of the dearest disciples of P. Krishna Pillai, a prominent leader of the party. Sadanandan wrote plays and songs, which were used by the party as part of its propaganda.

The first play Sadanandan wrote his first play,

Kudiyirakku , when he was 17 years old. R. Sugathan, another important leader of the party, was his creative inspiration. Sadanandan also served as president of Mararikulam panchayat. However, he went on sever his relationship with the party, following differences with some leaders.

Sadanandan plunged full-time into writing and organised a theatre group named Kalpana Theatres. Some of his plays like Oral Koodi Kallanayi won wide appreciation. This opened the doors to cinema. Kunchacko of Udaya Studios asked him to write a script, a plan that Kunchacko dropped halfway. But this did not deter Sadanandan. He was invited by P.A. Thomas to write a script for his film. This was in 1962 and the film Sreekovil did well. There was no need for Sadanandan to look back after that.

In 1967, Sadanandan became the first Malayalam scriptwriter to win the National Award for the film Agniputhri . Among the many film scripts he wrote mention must be made of those like Chemmeen , Kavyamela , Oru Penninte Katha and Yavanika . Besides this he wrote several played that were staged by his own troupe, Suryasoma. One of the plays that he wrote, Kattukuthira , virtually created a storm being staged in over 5,000 venues and catapulted Rajan P. Dev, who played the lead role to limelight. The play was adapted into a successful film with Thilakan playing the main role. Some of his other successful plays were Ennum Parakkunna Pakshi and Ayiram Chirakulla Mohangal. Sadanandan died on September 16, 2005.