Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (15 July 1933 – 25 December 2024) was an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director.

The emotional experiences of his early days went into his novels, and most of his works are oriented towards the basic Malayalam family structure and culture.

[4] Although his family did not nurture an interest in reading, Nair started writing at an early age and had his work published in magazines.

[6][5] Nair began writing at a very young age, inspired by his elder brothers who wrote time and again in several literary journals and poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri who was his senior at high school.

The story explores the feelings of a boy too poor to have firecrackers of his own, as he stands listening to the sounds of crackers coming from the houses of the rich celebrating the new year festival of Vishu: an overwhelming sense of loss, the painful realisation that this is the way things are and the way they're likely to stay.

[6] The noted collections of his stories are Iruttinte Athmavu, Olavum Theeravum, Bandhanam, Varikkuzhi, Dare-e-Salam, Swargam Thurakkunna Samayam, Vaanaprastham and Sherlock.

The story "Sherlock" moves between the rural milieu familiar to Nair's readers and the sophisticated world of Indian immigrants in the US, highlighting the contrast between them with subtle irony.

Nair wrote passionately of the cruelty hidden at the heart of a seemingly idyllic rural life ("Kurukkante Kalyanam" or "The Jackal's Wedding" and "Shilalikhithangal" or "Stone Inscriptions") and of the privations endured by those dependent on the agricultural cycle ("Karkitakom" and "Pallivalum Kalchilambum" or "Sacred Sword and Anklets").

[4] His first major work Naalukettu (The Legacy; 1958) is a veritable depiction of the situation which prevailed in a typical joint family when its fortunes is on a steady decline.

It contributed to the renewal of a literary tradition initiated by S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer and Uroob in the 1950s.

It has had 23 reprints and was translated into 14 languages and had a record sale of a half a million copies (as of 2008) and still features in the best-seller lists.

[15] Asuravithu (The Demon Seed; 1972) which is set in a fictional Valluvanadan village named Kizhakkemuri can be considered almost as a sequel to Naalukettu.

These two early novels—Naalukettu and Asuravithu—depict a phase in which the economic and cultural scenario of Kerala manifested symptoms which were to develop into dangerous ecocidal tendencies at a later stage.

The eco-feminist theme of patriarchal domination and exploitation gained more prominence in Manju, Nair's only novel with a female protagonist (Vimala).

[19] Randamoozham (The Second Turn; 1984), retells the story of the Mahabharatha from the point of view of Bhimasena, supposed to be the son of Vayu; this is demystified or demythified in the novel.

Nair and Mohamed stayed in a rented house in Karuvarakkundu village, Malappuram for a period of two weeks to complete this work.

[23] Nair authored two books on the craft of writing—Kaathikante Panippura and Kaathikante Kala—and his anecdotal columns articles on various topics and speeches on different occasions have been compiled under the titles Kilivaathililude, Kannanthalippookkalude Kaalam, Vakkukalude Vismayam and Eekakikalude Sabdam.

[24] Nair occupied many important positions in various literary bodies, including the presidency of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and the chairmanship of Tunchan Memorial Trust.

[34] Nair was the first and foremost script writer in Malayalam who wrote screenplays after having learnt cinema as a distinctive visual art which has its own language, grammar and structure.

The disintegration of human values and relationship which creates identity crisis, sense of loss, dehumanisation, alienation from one's own surroundings, etc.

The best examples are Kanyakumari, Varikkuzhi, Vilkkanundu Swapnangal, Sadayam, Asuravithu, Edavazhiyile Poocha Mindappoocha, Akshrangal, Aalkkoottathil Thaniye, Aaroodam etc.

[32] A salient aspect of Nair's screenplays is the effective presentation of the ecological or geographical factors and elements making use of the visual possibilities of their portrayal.

[37] Nair scripted and directed many more films including the award-winning Bandhanam, Kadavu and Oru Cheru Punchiri.

The landscape and ethos of the Valluvanad region and the transformations undergone by them in the course of the century, involving relics of the tarawad and the communal tensions provide a challenging theme for the highly evocative style of Vasudevan Nair's narrative art.

The temporal milieu of Nair's fiction stretches over the second half of the twentieth century, a period of tremendous social, cultural and economic changes.

[11] In his opinion, class-war the ideal which had inspired the writers belonging to the preceding generation had almost lost its relevance by the time he entered the literary career.

Nair, in spite of his broad and deep sympathy for the marginalised, doesn't identify himself with any particular political ideology or movement.

[49] As of 2016 the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., United States, had a collection of 62 books authored by Nair (including some English translations) or about him.