Writer U.A. Khader shares a lighter moment with lyricist Poovachal Khader during a meeting to commemorate actor Prem Nazir in Kozhikode on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: S_RAMESHKURUP
Prem Nazir Samskarika Vedi’s award presented to lyricist Poovachal Khader
“The coincidental meeting of three Abdul Khaders” was how writer U.A. Khader described the 29th death anniversary commemoration meet of actor Prem Nazir in Kozhikode on Tuesday. The first being the actor whose real name was Abdul Khader, the second, the writer himself and the third Poovachal Khader, noted lyricist and poet who bagged the Prem Nazir Samskarika Vedi’s 10th anniversary award on Tuesday.
‘Memories still alive’
Prem Nazir, who holds many a record in Malayalam cinema, passed away in 1989 at the age of 62. “It is not for nothing that his memories are still alive in the minds of cinema viewers,” said the writer, adding that Prem Nazir had immortalised many of his characters. He cited the actor’s performance as Bhranthan Velayudhan in Iruttinte Athmavu as a classical one.
Film producer P.V. Gangadharan, who presented the award to Poovachal Khader, recalled how Prem Nazir supported him in his early days as a producer.
The Prem Nazir Samskarika Vedi has been presenting the award to many known and lesser known personalities in cinema over the last 10 years. Actors T.R. Omana, Shantha Devi and Sreelatha Namboothiri were some of the recipients of the award in previous years. Poovachal Khader, a relative of Prem Nazir, is also the president of Thiruvananthapuram-based Prem Nazir Foundation.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Staff Reporter / Kozhikode – January 17th, 2018
The dilemma of a child who had to straddle two cultures, as distinct as Keralite and Burmese, form writer U.A. Khader’s memories of his early life.
Speaking at a session of the Leisure Programme organised by the Kozhikode Public Library and Research Centre, Khader narrated the story of his life, beginning with his time in Burma, the land of his mother and where his father worked till he was eight. He also spoke about the isolated life he led as a student in Koyilandy where other students found him strange because of his Burmese face and “big size.”
Khader, who shot to fame with his ‘Thrikkottur Peruma,’ recalled Mammumusliyar who was entrusted with teaching him the Koran. He narrated how the man who became an indelible influence in his life taught him the Arabic alphabets through pictures of animals. It was Mammumusliyar who enrolled him in the first standard of a Mappila school at the age of eight.
Khader remembered how he had to make double the effort of students whose mother tongue was Malayalam to learn its words. Other students just had to learn the alphabets ‘pa’ and ‘na’ to know it was ‘pana,’ but little Khader had to know what ‘pana’ (palm tree) meant.
Another decisive time in his life was when his grandmother died and the question of who will take custody of Khader arose. His father had married a second time and he shifted his stay to his step-mother’s residence.
He spoke about his association with former Chief Minister C.H. Mohammed Koya. It was CH who initiated him into the world of reading by gifting him Vaikom Muhammed Basheer’s ‘Balyakalasakhi.’
The audience was in splits when the writer narrated how his first story, based on a real life incident in which he sold his watch and bought a dinner set as a wedding present for a friend, was published in a totally different form. He had written quite harshly about his father and step-mother when he put the story to paper. He handed over the story to CH who published it in the Chandrika, but in a totally different form. His message to Khader was that story writing was not about writing ill of others. CH’s words “to write more and not to write if the urge is not felt; but to read a lot, including the stories of Maupassant and Anton Chekov,” still echo in his ears.
He also narrated his journey to Madras (now Chennai) to learn painting, where he got in touch with writers such as K.A. Kodungalloor.
Speaking about his masterpiece, ‘Thrikkottur Peruma,’ he said that the novel was noted because it espoused the essence of Kerala culture. Other works during that period lacked this and were also difficult to understand, he said. His next ambition was to write a novel that explores the northern Kerala Kalari system. He had been working on it for sometime but could not start writing.
The Leisure Programme is a continuing learning programme in which people who have excelled in various walks of life share their experiences and expertise in various sessions.
M.M. Basheer, literary critic, presided. Paramesharan Potti, librarian, also spoke.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / August 11th, 2008
