Veteran author, journalist Kutty dies at 71

Veteran journalist and author V K Madhavan Kutty, 71, died last night at the Escorts hospital. He had been admitted to Sitaram Bhartia Insti...

Veteran journalist and author V K Madhavan Kutty, 71, died last night at the Escorts hospital. He had been admitted to Sitaram Bhartia Institute last Saturday following a severe asthma attack but was shifted to Escorts two days later.

His wife Sherley and daughters Sobha and Ammu were by his side when he died at 9.35 pm.

Kutty, who had written 14 books, received the Padmashree award in 2002. His latest book was The Unspoken Curse, translated from Malayalam.

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The journalist started out as Mathrubhumi’s Delhi correspondent in 1956 and served as its editor from 1987 to 1990. He was one of the founders of the Asianet channel and its director since 1994.

Kutty, whose current affairs columns appeared in a number of English and Malayalam dailies and periodicals, once said he became a journalist “for want of doing anything better”.

The urge to do something more led him to be an author and translator and he bagged a number of awards, among them the Sahitya Akademi award and the Swadeshabhimani Award.

Kutty’s Village Before Time, originally written in Malayalam, was among the books shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award and had been compared with Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird. His vivid journalism and his books always found an appreciative audience.

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In his condolence message, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: “Noted for his brevity and simplicity, Kutty highlighted the dreams that give meaning to life amidst all its contradictions and challenges.”

The veteran journalist spent a large part of his professional life in Delhi, but he always prided himself as the voice of South India.

Natwar Singh recalled his three-decade-long association with Kutty, saying he was a “model for all of us and our world has become darker with his passing away”.

Writer Paul Zachariah said Kutty was the first scribe to give Malayalam journalism a national and international profile. His association with the veteran journalist started three decades ago during their Delhi days.

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“He will go to any extent to help an artiste or a writer. His list of friends in literature extends from Vallathol to the writers of the present generation,” Zachariah said.

Friends say Kutty was the last resort of any Malayali in distress in Delhi.

“Be it Prem Nazir or an obscure with no money, Kutty readily got into his Volkswagen and went straight to the Prime Minister’s Office to get help for them,” Zachariah said. Kutty was closely associated with a number of Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru down to Manmohan Singh.