Author | M. T. Vasudevan Nair |
---|---|
Language | Malayalam |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Current Books, DC Books |
Publication date | 1958 |
Publication place | India |
Published in English | 1975 |
Media type | |
Pages | 204 |
Awards | 1959: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award |
ISBN | 978-81-226-0727-7 |
Naalukettu is a Malayalam novel written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. Published in 1958, it was MT's first major novel.[1] The title attributes to Nālukettu, a traditional ancestral home (Taravad) of a Nair joint family. Like many other novels written by MT, Naalukettu is also set against the backdrop of the crumbling matrilineal order of Kerala in a newly independent India.
Naalukettu remains a classic in Malayalam fiction. It contributed to the renewal of a literary tradition initiated by S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, and Uroob in the 1950s.[2] It was given the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1959.[3] It has had 23 reprints (as of 2008), was translated into 14 languages, had a record sale of half a million copies (as of 2008), and still features in the best-seller lists.[4][5]
Doordarshan adapted the novel into a television film in 1995 with malayalam actor, Krishnaprasad, as the protagonist.[6] It won the Kerala State Television Award for the year 1996.[6] A screenplay based on the novel was released on 8 December 2012 as part of the DC International Book Festival, Thiruvananthapuram.[6][7]