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K.T. Mohammed passes away

K.T. Mohammed’s plays stood the test of time.

KOZHIKODE: K.T. Mohammed who died here following prolonged illness on Tuesday was one of the finest playwrights ever of Malayalam. He was 79.

He was also a social reformist who had questioned the superstitions prevailing in the Muslim community through his most celebrated play ‘Ithu Bhoomiyanu’. KT wrote the play, which was first performed in 1953 by Brothers Music Club here, when he was just 23. The play, predictably, had attracted protests wherever it was staged, but it was very popular and was staged in many cities even outside Kerala. That it continues to be performed even today shows the play has lost little of its relevance.

In a long career, KT wrote many more plays that have stood the test of time. Plays such as ‘Srishti,’ ‘Sthithi,’ ‘Samharam,’ ‘Deepasthambham Mahasharyam,’ ‘Kafar,’ ‘Chuvanna Ghadikaram,’ ‘Kadalpalam,’ ‘Samanwayam,’ ‘Sanathanam,’ ‘Sakshalkaram,’ and ‘Soothradharan’ established himself as one of the leading playwrights of his time.

It was of course ‘Ithu Bhoomiyanu’ that really announced the arrival of KT. But he had shown tremendous promise as a writer before that; a short story he wrote, ‘Kannuka’, had won the first prize in an international competition (M.T. Vasudevan Nair has also won the same prize). It was not just plays and short stories KT wrote; he also wrote novels, screenplays, including ‘Kandam Becha Kottu,’ ‘Kadalpalam,’ and ‘Thurakkatha Vathil,’ and songs. And he was also an actor and film director.

Of course, it was as a playwright that KT is going to be remembered. That is the way he wanted it, too.

In an interview with this writer nearly two years ago, he had said that nothing gave him as much pleasure as writing. But he had hastened to add that he wouldn’t consider himself a writer in the real sense of the term. “I haven’t read much, have had no formal education and was after all just an employee in the Postal Department for the 23 years of my life,” he had said.

He lost his job because he decided to take the responsibility for the termination of his colleagues who had taken part in a strike. Since he was the president of the union at the Postal Department in Kozhikode, he believed he had no right to continue in the job when his colleagues, most of them were working on temporary basis, were dismissed from service. He went on medical leave and informed his superior officers that he would return for work only if each one of the sacked employees were taken back. That didn’t happen, so he didn’t renew his medical leave and thus allowed himself to be dismissed.

KT was in the process of writing one more play. “I will complete it when somebody comes forward to stage it,” he had said. But the curtains came down on a remarkable career before he could see that happen.

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