Contrary to the ways of the contemporary world, here was a man who chose silence as an oft-sought companion. Rarely did he speak. But when he did, the whole of Kerala listened with rapt attention, be it his interventions to put an end to the Marad riots, genuine concern over the thousands who lost their livelihoods post demonetisation, or his recent remarks denouncing totalitarianism and cult worship of political leaders. MT was never one to mince words. More often than not, his silences too were subject to widespread misinterpretation.

No other literary editor, in all likelihood, nurtured the modernist movement in Malayalam literature the way MT did, with a slew of writers — M Mukundan, Sethu, Paul Zachariah, Madhavan and Narayana Pillai, among others — being handpicked by MT the editor.

MT portrayed inner tussles of marginalised sections

Amidst acceptable societal parlance, MT remained an enigma, not just for so-called power-centres but even for fellow-travellers who often wondered exactly whose side he was on! Cultural Kerala never did succeed in slotting him into established columns of political, religious or social identities. When many writers returned awards so as to make a pertinent political point, he wasn’t among them.

While many of the intelligentsia preferred to be known as atheists, he often headed to Mookambika.

As a writer-filmmaker, he portrayed the inner tussles of those on the margins of society. Yet, an underlying streak of rebellion in a few of his iconoclastic characters stand out.

How can cultural Kerala ever forget the distraught oracle who spat on the face of the deity whom he had worshipped for long — an image that now lies etched forever in the minds of Malayali cinephiles. Such evocative imagery, especially in an era of religious and communal intolerance, provides much food for thought in an increasingly polarised world.