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One of the biggest cultural icons in Kerala, Soorya Krishnamoorthy, passed away in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, September 24, at the age of 75. Most known for organising the annual Soorya Festival, a cultural event that ran for over a hundred days every year, Krishnamoorthy had promoted art in many forms for decades.
He set up the Soorya Stage and Film Society to organise the cultural festival in 1977, as a young connoisseur of art. The festival, which had for many years famously begun with a kutcheri by KJ Yesudas, Kerala's most renowned playback singer, held music and dance performances, dramas and documentaries and talk festivals. Shobana’s dance performance too had been a regular event at the festival.
Ten years ago, Krishnamoorthy set up an auditorium called Ganesham behind his house in Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram, to allow space, free of cost, for new and promising artists. His house was known for its vast collection of Ganesha statues spread across all the rooms in various sizes and shapes.
After graduating from the TKM Engineering College, Krishnamoorthy began his career at the Indian Space Research Organisation and worked under scientists like APJ Abdul Kalam for 27 years. He took voluntary retirement to focus fully on cultural work. He had worked as chairperson of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy, and won recognition as ‘Man of the Year’ by the Limca Book of Records for his contribution to art. He also wrote/directed plays like his series Chayakada Kathakal, Ente Rakshasan and Melvilasam. A recurring character in many of his plays was called Ammu.
Political leaders and artists from across different fields paid their last respects to Krishnamoorthy. Chief Minister VD Satheesan called him an icon who placed Kerala’s cultural landscape on the face of the globe. Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan said that Kerala lost an irreplaceable organiser of arts with the departure of Krishnamoorthy. Mammootty and Mohanlal were among the actors who paid their condolences.
