Background
Mullanezhi was born in Mullanezhi Mana, Avinisseri, Ollur on May 16, 1948.
Mullanezhi was born in Mullanezhi Mana, Avinisseri, Ollur on May 16, 1948.
He also received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyricist in 1981 for the film Njavalpazham. He has penned more than 69 songs for 22 movies and also acted in films like,, and Though he began to write poems from his childhood, it was Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, who discovered the poet in him and guided him in his life and career.
Vyloppilly was also instrumental in prompting him join for Vidwan course, and thus to become a school teacher.
He started his career as a teacher from Ramavarmapuram Government High School. Throughout his life Mullanezhi wrote poems in which he was able to create a curious and fascinating blend of traditions: he belonged to the ‘old school" and had a firm grounding in Sanskrit and the folk traditions in music and literature.
In his writings, this rootedness comes into vibrant contact with the new and the radical. He didn"t deride his past or tradition in order to embrace the best of modern currents.
Mullanezhi"s important collections of poems are Mohapakshi, Raapattu, Naaranathupranthan and Penkoda.
Mullanezhi was also a theatre activist. He led Agragami Theatres and wrote many plays, some of which have been collected in the anthology Samathalam. In theatre, he was inspired by the social reformist movement inaugurated by the likes of V. T. Bhattathiripad, M. R. Bhattathiripad, and Premji.
He became a film lyricist in 1976, by penning the song "Karukaruthoru Pennanu" for Njavalpazhangal by Azeez.
He penned four songs in K. P. Kumaran"s Lakshmi Vijayam, under the music direction of Shyam. Mullanezhi owns the pride of having worked with a variety of music directors like G. Devarajan, M. B. Sreenivasan, Raveendran, K. Raghavan, A. T. Ummer, Johnson, Jerry Amaldev and Vidhyadharan.
His last film was Indian Rupee. He has penned more than 69 songs for 22 movies.
Mullanezhi entered the world of acting through the drama, Chaverppada (1970) in which he acted alongside Premji.
He acted in a few films including, and He died on 22 October 2011 due to cardiac arrest.
He served as a director board member of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi from 1980 to 1983.