Kochi: By honouring M T vasudevan Nair we are actually honouring our language and celebrating our culture, eminent Malayalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan said here on Friday. He was inaugurating ‘MT Kalam – Navathi Vandanam’, an event organised by Manorama Online to honour the legendary writer who turned 90 this year.

Adoor hailed MT as a writer who never failed to uphold the honour of his profession. “There is no other person who has upheld the self esteem of a writer. Often writers lead a life different from their writing. MT is not like that,” the Elippathayam director said.

“Those in film industry often say they just want a script from MT and the film will be successful. People have almost blind faith in him. When we speak about him we are being proud of our cultural sphere,” he said.

Adoor remembered that he had the fortune to read MT’s works much before he got into film-making. “Wherever he laid his hands, he left a mark there,” the filmmaker said.

MT attended the event along with wife Kalamandalam Saraswathy, daughter Aswathy, son-in-law Sreekanth and grandson Madhav.

Actors Mammootty and Mohanlal, who played some of their masterpiece roles in films written by MT, honoured the literary legend at the event at Hotel Le Meridien in Kochi. Manorama Online chief executive officer Mariam Mammen Mathew, Alukkas Group chairman Joy Alukkas were present on the dais.

The actors shared their experiences of working with MT during a session moderated by actor Siddique. Actor Kamal Hassan addressed the event online.

Joy Alukkas presented a copy of his book “Spreading Joy” to MT on the occasion.

Mammootty launched the audio version of “Ninte Ormaykk” by MT, presented by Manorama Books. Adoor announced the pre-publication of “MT: Kathetharam”, a complete collection of essays by the writer.

Mohanlal launched the book titled “MT: Kalam, Kalatheetham” by presenting a copy to Adoor. Manorama Books is publishing the work in honour of MT. Muthoottu Group executive director and chief operating officer Bijimon presented a memento to MT.

Manorama Online organised the event in association with Joy Alukkas. The event is supported by Muthoot Finance.