NATIONALl AWARD-winning actor and theatre personality Murali passed away on August 6, at the age of 55. He was suffering from acute diabetes. Murali had won the National Award for best actor in 2002 for the film "Neythukaran". He was also chairman of the Kerala Sangeeth Natak Academy.

Brief Profile
Born in 1954 in Kudavattoor near Kottarakara in Kollam District, Murali made his start as an actor while still in school - he appeared on stage as a child actor in a play directed by his teachers. After graduating from DB College, Sasthamkotta, and then taking a degree in law from the Law Academy, Thiruvananthapuram, he got a clerical job in the Health Department. Later he got a job at the University of Kerala. Ever since his college days, Murali had a passion for acting and consequently when he took up the job at the University, he joined the Natyagriha, the experimental theatre group based in Thiruvananthapuram. And he matched his skills with the likes of Narendra Prasad and others while performing in many stage plays presented by the troupe. Later, when noted actor and National Award winner Bharath Gopi directed the film Njattadi, he decided to cast Murali in the lead. The film was made but was not released. However Murali went on to bag more interesting offers in films directed by noted filmmakers G Aravindan and Lenin Rajendran. He acted in Aravindan’s Chidambaram and gave an electrifying performance as a young revolutionary in Lenin Rajendran’s Meenamaasaththile Sooryan. But these films were released only after Hariharan’s Panchaagni, which became Murali’s first released film.

Film after film came his way and he played out his roles with the true conviction of a dedicated actor. Murali has acted in more than 170 films. Among these, the most notable ones are Panchaagni, Meenamaasaththile Sooryan, Amaram, Chamayam, Kireedom, Dasharatham, Gershome, Magrib, Aadhaaram, Venkalam, Aakaashadootu, Karunyam, Mathilukal and Chakoram. In 1990, Murali bagged the Kerala State Award for the best supporting actor for his performance in Bharathan’s Amaram. And then, two years later, in 1992, he won the State Award for the best actor for his role in Aadhaaram, directed by George Kiththu. He won the State Award for best actor again in 1996 for Kaanaakinaavu, directed by Sibi Malayil and in 1998 for the Jayaraj-directed Thalolam. And now, with Neyththukaaran, this gifted performer won the State Award a fourth time, followed closely by the coveted National Award. With Gemini becoming a hit, Murali also become quite popular in Tamil too.

Theatre complex as memorial to Murali
Kerala's Cultural Affairs Minister, M A Baby has said that the government will take steps to construct a theatre complex in Thrissur as a memorial to the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi chairman and actor Murali.

Addressing a Murali memorial meet at the Akademi’s KT Mohammed Memorial Regional Theatre, the Minister said that the greatest tribute to Murali was to fulfil some of his dream projects, including setting up a theatre complex of international standards. “He also wanted to organise international theatre and percussion festivals. He longed to set up a modern theatre complex. We once stopped at Paris and visited one of the major theatres in the world on our way back from Cuba and Vietnam. The stage adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ was playing there. We walked out of the theatre dreaming of building a similar theatre in Kerala,” the minister added. He described Murali as a talented actor, social revolutionary, a committed student of aesthetics and a great human being.

Kerala Sahitya Akademi President M. Mukundan observed that unlike most actors who created larger-than-life characters on screen, Murali portrayed realistic ones.