Veteran journalist and writer passed away, condolences pour in

At times journalists and writers publish their articles in pseudonyms. And are more often and remembered in that name. So was this journalist.

Senior journalist NV Sankaran, popularly known as Gnani (64), passed away in the wee hours Monday.  

He has been regularly taking dialysis.

People in the know said he felt uneasiness in the wee hours and he died on the way to the hospital.

His mortal remains are kept for public homage in his residence at KK Nagar.

Gnani, an untiring journalist, was working till Sunday night.

He had, just 10 hours before his death, made a Facebook post commenting on speech by S Gurumurthy at the 48th Thuglak anniversary.

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The post has become his last statement with many of his associates posting their comments on Facebook, expressing their disbelief on the veteran’s untimely death.

Widely considered as an unbiased commentator on all social and political events, Gnani was a multi-faceted personality.

Trained in theatre by Badal Sircar, he has directed and produced over 50 plays various languages like Bengali, Marathi, German and English in Tamil. A founder member of (1978).

He was also a founding member of Veedhi, Chennai’s first street theatre group (1978), Koothupppattarai as well as founder director of Pareeksha.

As a film and video maker, he directed and produced the first ever serial on Periyar EVR besides producing several fiction serials and over 30 documentaries on social issues. 

Gnani wrote numerous articles on social and political events in various journals and newspaper for over 40 years in Tamil and English. He was a student campaigner in early seventies for socialism and during emergency fought emergency as a journalist with Indian Express.

In the mid-eighties, he worked with the National Front founded by VP Singh and DMK as a translator for VP Singh on stage for over 70 public rallies. 

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Gnani has been a social activist sharing platform with various women’s groups, human rights groups and cultural groups. He has also translated the works of Medha Patkar, Nikhil Chakravarthy, Asgar Ali Engineer, Nagabhooshan Patnaik and George Fernandez, and others on stage.

Gnani trained students in theatre and journalism as NSS advisor in several universities.

He has been working with school and college students as life skills trainer for the last one decade.

Gnani has authored and published about 20 books in Tamil on various social issues, current affairs and fiction. 

For a decade, he has been an active critic and debater on television news channels.

Lately, he had started ‘Oh pakkangal’ a YouTube channel, discussing hot political topics.

Gnani was a popular writer in the Tamil language. He has also written articles under the pseudonyms Vamban, Cynic, and Nandan and is known for frank and uncompromising views on politics and culture, which he has expressed in the media for 30 years. He plays multiple roles in newspapers, magazines, plays, and films.