Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Biography 
Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai was a dramatist, poet, screen play writer and actor of Malayalam movies. He is better known as the scriptwriter and dialogue writer of the first Malayalam talkie, Balan and thus regarded as ‘The Akshara Guru of Malayalam talkies’. He also wrote its lyrics and songs were popular. He is also the screenwriter and dialogue writer of first commercial hit of Malayalam – Jeevitha Nauka, with Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair and B. S. Saroja in the lead roles. He was the artist who discovered great Malayalam actors, Prem Nazir and Aaranmula Ponnamma.
He was a genius artist in the first era of Malayalam movies and drama who authored about 55 dramas and dozens of film stories and screenplays. He wrote Tataka Parinayam Kathakali also. Apart from being verse as a good writer, he has appeared in character and supporting roles in about 150 Malayalam movies. Yet the end days of this great artist were really pathetic. Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Puraskaram is instituted in memory of this great artist.
He was born in the year 1900 in Keerikadu of Kuttanadu, Alappuzha. He became popular as a character artist, comedian, lyricist, dialogue writer and screenwriter. He was an energetic person and with flexibility he handled all these areas in ease. Such artists were rare in those days. His mannerisms made him a successful comedian also. As an actor, he has appeared in movies like Jeevita Nauka, Visappinte Vili, Vaalve maayam and many more.
Though he was a great artist of his times, his end days were spent in poverty. Though he wrote a lot of stories, he published only a few and thus lost his earnings of royalty. It is said that, many people who stood aside him as copy writers stole his story and became famous later while Muthukulam strived a lot for his livelihood.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 16, 2014
