Noted journalist and former editor of Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi,VK Madhavan Kutty, died in New Delhi Tuesday night. Kutty, who was also the founder director of satellite channel Asianet and a renowned author, is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Kutty was admitted to a hospital on Saturday after he developed asthmatic complications. He was subsequently shifted to another hospital where he died following a heart attack.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief over Kutty's death. In a message to the bereaved family, he said, "I am deeply grieved to learn of the sad demise of eminent journalist and writer VK Madhavan Kutty. The country has lost a prolific and meaningful writer who was a keen observer of the traits and foibles of the common man. Noted for his brevity and simplicity, Madhavan Kutty highlighted the dreams that give meaning to life amidst all its contradictions and challenges."
A Padma Shree recipient, Kutty had a number of publications to his credit, including his experiences as a survivor of the Kumaramangalam plane crash in 1973. Seventy-one-year-old Kutty had the reputation of cat's nine lives for his miraculous escapes in the plane crash that killed Mohan Kumaramangalam and another in which he survived along with the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai in Jorhat in Assam in which the entire crew was killed. Both incidents happened in the 1970s.
"Madhavan Kutty’s vivid journalism and his books starting with 'The Village Before Time,' have all been widely appreciated and he was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shree. The void caused by his death will be difficult to fill. I deeply mourn Madhavan Kutty’s demise and convey my heartfelt condolences to the members of his family, his associates and admirers," the Prime Minister said.
Kutty began his career with popular Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi in 1952 after he left his village in Palakkad in Kerala and rose to become its Chief of Bureau in Delhi. He retired as the Editor of the newspaper at its headquarters in Kozhikode.
After leaving the newspaper at the end of a 40-year-long stint, he became one of the founder-directors of the first Malayalam private satellite television channel Asianet. He was an expert commentator on political developments during his decade-long association with the channel.
"His popularity is such that no political leader of worth the name, especially from Kerala, would not return without meeting him or at least talking to him over the phone," said a journalist who had a long time association with him in Mathrubhumi.
