P Bhaskaran

P Bhaskaran (full name Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran)was an actor, poet, lyricist, and filmmaker from South India. He was born in Kodungallur, Thrissur district, Kingdom of Cochinon April 21, 1924, to a lawyer, freedom fighter, poet, and journalist Nandyelathu Padmanabha Menon, and house-wife Pulloottupadathu Ammalu Amma. However, Nandyelathu died when Pulloottupadathu was just ten years old. Within two years, he started writing poems. He went to Maharajas College. While studying there, literature and communism fascinated him. For six months, police kept him in prison for participating in the struggle of August. After releasing from their, Pulloottupadathu migrated to Kozhikode and started working at the Deshabhimani Weekly. Soon after, he commenced writing songs for local stage shows. Since they were communist, Travancore state had even banned them. However, after the release of Vayalar Garjikkunnu, which Pulloottupadathu wrote under the pen name of Ravi, Dewan Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer gave the order to expatriate him. 

Pulloottupadathu then went to Chennai in search of work. After moving to Chennai, he left his communist views and worked at Jayakeralam as an editor and Akashavani. Later, he gravitated toward the Malayalam film industry.

Pulloottupadathu kick-started his journey as a lyricist but gradually moved on to don the hat of a producer, actor, and director. Ha has worked on more than forty movies like Thacholi Marumakan Chandu, Sreemad Bhagavad Geetha, Sneehadeepame Mizhi Thurakku, and much more.

He was one of the poignant figures who helped Malayalam music industry a new lease of life which before him had been re-using Hindi songs. Pulloottupadathu has also given singers like K. J. Jesudas, S Janaki, and Jayachandran, their first break.

He was Kerala Film Development Corporation's chairman and the founding chairman Of Asianet, Malayalam's first cable channel. MS Baburaj and K Raghavan have composed most of his work. Pulloottupadathu was the recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award of 1981, Asianet Film Awards' Best Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, and others.

The Kerala government and the president gave him the J. C. Daniel Award for his contribution to the field and a silver medal for Neelakuyil respectively.

He was married to Indra and had four children with her. On February 25, 2007, at the age of eighty-three, Pulloottupadathu passed away in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was suffering from the disease of Alzheimer. Prior to his death, he hardly had any memory of his colleagues and his work. The state government gave him full honor at the time of his cremation.