Career
As a journalist he wrote on arts, literature, Indian architecture and sports for a variety of English publications like The Hindu, The Statesman and Malayalam periodicals like Mathrubhumi. His father was Sadasyatilakan T.K.Veluppillai. As a youth he was a good tennis player.
His work Karnashapatham, is the most successful kathakali play written in the 20th century.
lieutenant saw more than 5000 stage performances during Mali"s lifetime. lieutenant is deemed a classic by virtue of its theme and the innovative ingredients woven together.
Compared to other kathakali plays, Karnasapatham is short, about three and half hours. Typical kathakali plays go on from dusk to dawn.
The use of simple Malayalam in the lyrics or padams and the use of ragas such as Reethigowla and Hindolam, some of them for the first time in kathakali, added to its popular appeal.
All the padams were written and tuned by Mali himself. lieutenant was first sung on stage by Vaikom Thankappan Pillai. He wrote about fifty novels and short stories for children.
He was also editor of Malika a magazine for children.
His retelling of Mahabharatha and Ramayana for children made him a household name. His novels Circus and Porattam were standard reading for the Kerala 9th standard syllabus.