Ettumanoor Somadasan

Ettumanoor Somadasan was born as M Somadasan Pillai to Ettumanoor Kurukkan Kunnil Tharavad to S Madhavan Pillai and Parukutty Amma on May 16, 1936.
Somadasan had his education at various institutions - the Govt. High School Kottayam, CMS College Kottayam, University College Trivandrum, the Trivandrum and Ernakulam Law Colleges and SB College Changanassery.

From 1959 to 1964, he worked for the Post and Telegraphs department. This was followed by his stint as a Malayalam Lecturer in the Chenganoor Christian College and several NSS Colleges from 1966, till he eventually retired from the Perunna NSS College as a First Grade Professor. From 1991-2009, Somadasan ran a Post-Graduate Educational institution in Perunna called Malayala Vidyapeedam.

In 1951, when he was a student, he published a novel, ‘Sakhi’ and in 1954, ‘Neeyente Karalaa’. He also published his poetry in several periodicals. Padavaalillatha Oru Kavi was his first collection of poetry, which he published in 1956. In 2009, he published a novel, Athijeevanam.

He first wrote lyrics in 1958 for PR Chandran’s drama Theemalakal. This was followed by the songs he wrote for several theater groups including Changanassery Geetha, Tharangam and Perumbavoor Natakashala.

He wrote four songs for Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Kamuki in 1967. Although the Sivan-Sashi duo comprising of VK Sasidharan and PK Sivadasan composed the music for these songs, the movie was never released. Two of these songs, Jeevanil Jeevan and Vaadikkozhinja, were later used in the film Theerangal. Akkaldama was the first movie with his songs, that was released. He followed it up with songs in Makam Piranna Manga and Kanthavalayam.

In 2010, the Kerala Sahitya Akademy honoured him with an award for his contributions to Malayalam literature. He was also given the Vamadevan Award (Trivandrum Nattarangu 1991), Krishnageethi Award (Revathi Pattathaanam, Kozhikkode 2001), Mooloor Kavitha Award 2002 and Ulloor Memorial Award in 2010. He passed away on 21 november 2011

Wife: A Thulasibhayi Amma
Children: S Kavitha, Dr. S Prathibha

Prepared by: Remitha Satheesh