THRISSUR: Poet and lyricist Mullanezhi Neelakandan, 63, passed away at a private hospital here on Saturday. He breathed his last around 4 am. Though he had attended the function remembering the late poet Ayyappan at the Sahithya Akademi Hall on Friday, he developed chest pain and was admitted to the hospital.Born at Mullanezhi Mana in Avinisseri on May 16, 1948, Mullanezhi made his mark as a lyricist with the film ‘Lakshmi Vijayam’ in 1976. He had worked as a teacher in Ramavarmapuram High School, here for almost 30 years. He was chosen a member of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademy in 1980. A gifted poet as well, Mullanezhi was the recipient of several literary awards like the N V Krishna Warrier Memorial Award - 2010 for ‘Kavitha’, an anthology of poems.He had proved his talent at acting too, debuting in the movie ‘Piravi’ and doing cameo but noted roles in ‘Kazhakam’ and ‘Chaverpata’. His last lyrics were for the Malayalam film ‘Indian Rupee’. Mullanezhi has about 70 songs to his credit, written for 22 films.His body was brought to the Sahithya Akademi Hall for public to pay homage. Poet Balachandran Chullikkad, P T Kunjumohammad, music composer Vidyadharan, M G Sasi, political leaders like former Revenue Minister K P Rajendran, T N Joy, former corporation Mayor Bindu, Jayaraj Warriyar, City Police Commissioner P Vijayan, Deputy Mayor Subi Babu, Alankode Leelakrishnan, literary critic and jury member of ‘Mampazham’ on Kairali channel and hundreds of others from various of walks of life were present. Mullanezhi was cremated near his residence in Avinisseri on Saturday.“It shocked us that the same venue where Mullanezhi said good night witnessed his bowing out,” T N Joy, an Emergency prisoner and political thinker said.
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