MUNSHI PARAMU PILLAI
Not 'Shaw ' but ‘The
Show’
People called him ‘Bernard Shaw’ of Kerala. He told them ‘I
am not Shah, I am a show..’ It was cent percent correct that he was a show,
obviously a One Man Show. Alternative of Munshi Paramu Pillai was only Munshi
Paramu Pillai and he was as bold as the real ‘Shah’.
History of Malayalam drama, cinema and satire cannot be
written without mentioning Munshi Paramu Pillai. In the period 1945 to 1965, he
was the master writer of Malayalam dramas. Famous drama companies of that
period presented his dramas which were mostly blockbusters. ]
One of his famous dramas ‘SUPRABHA’was a record holder. The
main character of that drama was a villain which was unimaginable at that
period. Duration of the play was five and a half hours. Whereever it was staged
the audience demanded ‘once more’. To fulfil this demand a second part of
‘SUPRABHA’ was written and staged. This was done in an era of heroes who enter
and perform with lengthy ‘Keerthanas’ with the hangover of Tamil dramas.
Dialogues of his dramas were filled with satire and cynicism, and the entire
Keralites celebrated their drama moods.
Munshi criticised the society which was still maintaining
the superstitions and narrowness. The rulers and bureaucracy were his prey, and
vice versa. But Munshi Paramu Pillai had the shield of public support. His
admirers were from all walks of life like politics, cinema, bureaucracy, labour
class and other ordinary people.
His famous dramas were PRASANNA, SUPRABHA, PRAKASAM,
NAATTINPURAM, RANTALLA, SAMSKARAM, RANTALLA, THIRICHADI, AAHWANAM, KALLAN
NJAANA, AARADI MANNU, AAHWAANAM, KAZHAKKOOTTATHAMMACHI etc
He was a screenplay /dialogue writer in the primary period
of talkies in Malayalam. Prasanna (1950) , Vanamala (1951) , Kanchana (1952) ,
Sandehi (1954) , Kaalam Maarunnu (1995) , Taskaraveeran (1957) etc.are some of
the films .He was also famous in the Tamil cinema field, as he had written the
story of Tamil blockbusters like MANAMAKAL, NALLATHAMPI etc.
Munshi Paramu Pillai was also a gifted Editor. He edited
(‘PRASANNAKERALAM’ one of the best ever periodicals of Malayalam (published
from Kayamkulam and owned by Pottakkanayam Velu Pillai). Munshi was in the
editorial board of the then leading Malayalam Dailies like Malayalee, Malayala
Rajyam , etc. He was also related to Janayugam , Navajeevan , Sarasan, Jwala
and many other periodicals.
C.V.Kunjuraman and K.K.Kunchu Pillai were respectively
reasoned Munshi ‘s entry in the field of Literature and Politics. At first
Munshi’s articles appeared in ‘NAVJEEVAN ‘ edited by C.V.Kunjuraman.
Almost all the Satiristic magazines then published in Malayalam
had the contributions of Munshi Paramu Pillai . Entire matter of some magazines
were written by him in various pseudonyms. One of his such famous pseudonym was
‘Chanakyan’.
He was fearless to criticise the then political setup of
Kerala controlled by the Diwan of Travancore,Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyengar.
Munshi’s magazine ‘Navasarasan’ criticised the Diwan and itwas ceased by the
government. He and his friends then published ‘Vasarasan’. It was noticed by
the police and Munshi changed the name into ‘Sarasan’, Rasan, San etc and
continued to attack the government.
After some period, SARASAN the satire monthly again captured
the humour market of Kerala for many decades (and finally stopped the
publication during Emergency in 1975). Munshi was the master brain of ‘SARASAN’
till his death in 1962.
The anonymous articles written by Munshi, criticising the
establishment caused a lot of trouble for the rulers. The editors, printers and
publishers whose name appeared in the concerned periodicals were arrested.
Munshi continued his vigour as a satirist as cool as ever and also he sincerely
engaged in his job as a ‘Malayalam Munshi’ of English Schools. He retired as a
Munshi ( language teacher ) from Government
High School
Munshi Paramu Pillai whose real name was K.R.Parameswaran
Pillai, was born in Adur as the son of Peringinadu Ammakandakara Kopparethu
Kochukunju Pillai and Ummini Amma. E.V.Krishna Pillai a giant of Malayalam
humour,was his neighbour and childhood friend. In his famous autobiography,
E.V.Krishna Pillai had illustrated various faces of his friend ‘PARAMU’as a
humourist and a good human being having the vigour to correct the evils of
societysuch as untouchability and other customes of that time.
When the ‘Walter Scott’ of Malayalam literature C.V.Raman
Pillai was writing his famous novel ‘Ramaraja Bahadur’ Munshi was residing with
E.V.Krishna Pillai at Kalkulam in Trivandrum
Munshi Paramu Pillai started his a career as a Primary
School teacher. He wrote dramas from his childhood and acted in many. .. His
practical jokes and boldness as a man having a straight backbone were discussed
by everybody, and he became famous in his fields of work.
He married thrice. First wife was Ponnamma Itty of the
famous Ammachiveedu family of Kollam. She was an orthodox woman and never could
cope with the attitude of Munshi as a writer or genius. She wanted a very
systematic, calculated conservative life with which Munshi was never
experienced. They have one son Gopikuttan (recently expired).
His second wife was Ratnamayee Devi whom he married when she
was 15 years. Munshi was then 34 years old. She was his student and her mother
was his collegue. After having three children Ratnamayee Devi and Munshi
divorced. One of their three children MANI later became a world famous figure
as the foreign secretary ofIndia, J.N.Dixit (Jyotheendra Nath Dixit). How
paramu Pillai’s son became “DIXIT’? It’s a long story worth research to analyse
the relationships of clashing persomalities.
His third wife was his first ever love, whom he wanted to
marry in his twenties. But her father Kaleeckal Krishna Pillai the landlord of Enadimangalam Village
Munshi Paramu Pillai spent his last days in Elamannur with
his wife Lakshmikutty Amma. He had many sincere associates who still ‘worship’
him as their Godfather. He died after a short period of illness at a hospital
in Pandalam near Adur and was cremated in the compound of his brother’s house
called ‘Parangamvila’at Peringinad, Adur.
After death of his wife,the house he resided for twenty
years caused disputes. As they had no children, the house and land of Lakshmikutty Amma
since 30 years and at last solutions were traced out to end
the dispute. This only monument to remember Munshi was demolished by the new
owner and he built a modern house there.
Munshi's books are out of print since forty years. As he was
an ‘enemy’ for critics and historians of literature and a certain part of the
highpower society, he was blacked out from the media and literary circle.
He was a man of will who was capable to activate whatever
his ideas he thought correct and fought alone against the frameworks of
society. Thus he had lot of casualities in his intellectual and social life.
His stern backbone and his sharp penpoint created his ‘enemies’.
He called the critics as ‘drillers’ and nobody remained
friendly with him in the literary field, except Kampisseri Karunakaran,Vaikkom
Chandrasekharan Nair, Pandalam .K.P., etc. His associates (spell disciples,
friends, collegues or likewise) like Thekkedathu Ramachandran Unnithan,
Conductor Kutty (later as naturally, ‘checker’ Kutty) Driver Parameswaran
Pillai (one of the heroes of erstwhile Travancore’s popular revolts held at
Kadakkal . Kadakkal declared as an independent country (having an area of some
square miles) and Raghavan Pillai declared ‘king’ . Parameswaran Pillai was the
Minister of that king who ruled the KADAKKAL COUNTRY for ‘long’ three days. He
was a driver in profession and closely associated with Munshi.
K.M.Bhargavan Pillai, Poothamkara Gopi, M.Gopinathan Nair
(Retd RDO)and Parakkodu Sadasivan Pillai were some of his disciples in
political and social activities. Munshi had his own political views and he
associated with the then State Congress Movement and afterwards with the
Communists. Leaders like M.N. Govindan Nair, T.V.Thomas, and Sankara Narayanan
Thampi contacted Munshi for his advice and ideas.
Munshi was a writer, satirist, social activist. His
contributions to the Malayalam literature as a satirist is still to be
researched . He is definitely a man worth study.
posted by
S.SALIMKUMAR
Kurumpakara
