N. P. Chellappan Nair

N.P. Chellapan was a playwright and a short story writer. He was born in 1903, in Mannar, of the Alappuzha district in Kerala. He was a law graduate and an IAS officer. While he was a law student, he got drawn towards cinema. He was also in touch with a lot of drama troupes. He wrote a lot of plays and also acted in some. Chellapan first decided to try out scriptwriting. He started researching Marthanda Varma and was determined to write a film script on the Maharaja. He began visiting archives and also spent a lot of time talking to people about him. Unfortunately, the film was never made. While appointed to the Anchal (postal) Superintendent of Travancore, he penned the script for the movie Sasidharan. He also played a small role in the film. He was then promoted to Magistrate but managed to write the script for the film Chechi.

While being promoted as Revenue Divisional Officer and then District Collector of Alleppey, he turned in scripts like Atmashanti and Atom Bomb. At around this time, the Government issued an order restricting government officials from pursuing any other vocation, which put an end to N.P.’s association to script writing. But this didn’t put an end to his passion for writing as he went on to write numerous stories, plays and novels. Some of his plays include Lady Doctor(1940), Lieutenant Nani (1946), Vikata Yogi, Nurse, Bhavana, Kakkakalum Kakkathamoburattikalum, Aa Prakasham Poliyukayilla, Minna Pinarukal, etc. His short stories include NPyude Charithrakathakal, which is a collection of 21 stories, Ere Nerum Kure Nunayum, etc. N.P. died in the year 1972, at the age of 69.