Thirunainar Kurichi Madhavan Nair

Thirunainarkurichi Madhavan Nair was an Indian poet, novelist and lyricist. He was also an employee of Travancore Radio Station in Thiruvananthapuram, which later got merged with All India Radio. He was very active in Malayalam films from 1951 to 1965 and has written over 300 film songs of which most were hits.^[1][2] Thirunainar Kurichi and music director Brother Lakshmanan were the hit duo of the 1950s and 60s. Thirunainar Kurichi has also written numerous poems dramas and novels in the 1950s and 1960s.

Madhavan Nair was born at Thirunainarkurichi town near Velimala Murugan temple, which is around Colachel in the Kanyakumari district of the present-day Tamil Nadu. Born on April 16, 1916, to Raman Nair and Narayani Pillai, he lost his father at a very young age. After education in Thiruvannathapuram and at his native place he took up a job as a teacher at a school in Colachel. He married Ponnamma and has a daughter named Jayashree. The film producer P. Subramaniam was his close friend and so the poet was the lyricist for the movies made in Subramaniam's Merryland Studios. His novel Maina was made into a Malayalam film Kattumaina. A writer of good novels like Paricharika, Pension Kunnu, Maina, Grama Seema, Kadamakalkkuvendi, Sarva Sakshi, Cheriya Valiyavan and Mayadevi, he is more famous as a poet. His famous songs include "Athmavidyalayame" from Harishchandra (1955) and "Ishwara Chinthaithonne Manujanu" from Bhakta Kuchela (1961). Most of his songs were tuned by Br. Lakshmanan and sung by Kamukara Purushothaman. He died aged 49 at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College on April 1, 1965. The cause of his death was cancer.

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