Kerala loses a great actor

6 August 2009

Kochi, Aug 6: Kerala lost a great actor in the death of Murali who breathed his last at a private hospital in Thiruvananthauram Thursday night. He was 55.

Murali who was a diabetic was admitted to PRS hospital with symptoms of pneumonia after getting back to Kerala from a shoot in South Africa. H breathed his last at around 8.20 pm.

Murali was also the chairman of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy.

Murali first donned the grease paint on screen for the film 'Njattadi' which was directed by another actor of great calibre Bharat Gopi. Sadly the film never saw the light of the day. Aravindan's Chidambaram and Lenin Rajendran's 'Meenamasathile Sooryan' followed soon. But it was the small but impressive role in the film 'Panchagni', scripted by MT and directed by Hariharan that brought him to the limelight.

Murali bagged the national award for best actor for his role as Appumesthry in Priyanandan's 'Neythukaran'.

Murali debuted as a hero through George Kithu's 'Aardram'. The role of Bapputti in the film also won him his first state award for the best actor. The audience accepted him in all type of roles including villanaeus roles and it became easy for him to make the shift from a negative shade to lead roles. He has also acted in several Tamil movies.

Born on 25th May 1954 as the first child of P. Krishna Pillai and K. Devaki Amma in Kudavattoor, Kollam, he completed his schooling from Kudavattoor L. P. School and Thrikannamangalam S.K.V. High School. Murali was active in school theatre but his destiny as an actor was groomed by his contact with thespians Narendraprasad and poet Kadammanitta, whom he fondly referred to as Guruji, while he was a student at Law Academy in Thiruvananthapuram.

Murali grew up in a climate of left politics and always remained a faithful co-traveller of the Communist party in Kerala. He unsuccessfully contested the 1999 Lok Sabha elections as a CPM candidate from Alappuzha against V. M. Sudheeran of the Indian National Congress.

Murali is survived by wife Shailaja and daughter Karthika.