Photographer Punalur Rajan passes away; Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan condoles

Noted photographer Punalur Rajan died in Kozhikode on Saturday due to cardiac ailments, family sources said. He was 81.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of Rajan and said he pursued history with a "politicalinsight".

"Through his photographs, Rajan captured and immortalised the rare moments of literary stalwarts including Basheer, S K Pottekkad, M T Vasudevan Nair and many others. He also closely followed senior political leaders and captured many rare moments," Vijayan said.

The Chief Minister said Rajan's demise was a loss to the cultural society of Kerala.

Chalachitra Academy Chairman Kamal expressed his condolences on the death of the renowned photographer who captured the history of Keralathrough the fields of literature, cinema and politics.

Kamal remembered that the Communist Party had in 1960 sent Rajan to Russia to train him in filmmaking under the leadership of KPAC.

"He studied photography at the Moscow State Institute of Filmatography. The demise of Rajan, who immortalised the unique talents in the cultural history of Kerala with his vivid portraits, is a great loss to Kerala," Kamal said in a statement.

Rajan, born in 1939, obtained his diploma in Fine Arts from Mavelikkara Ravi Varma School and in 1963, joined Kozhikode government Medical College as an artist- photographer.

Rajan had also brought out 'Basheer: Chayayum Ormayum', a portfolio of photographs depicting the life and times of the gifted writer.

He had also taken numerous images depicting rare moments from Communist doyens of the country, including EMS Namboodiripad, C Achutha Menon, C Rajeswara Rao, S A Dange and P K Vasudevan Nair and captured the best moments in the life of personalities like Thikodiyan, Uroob, K A Kodungallur and many others.