N. Krishna Pillai was a malayalam Dramatist and critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

. Born on 22 September 1916 in Varkala

Varkala

Varkala is a coastal town and municipality in Thiruvananthapuram district situated in the Indian state of Kerala. It is located 50 kilometres north-west of Thiruvananthapuram and 37 km south-west of Kollam city.Varkala is the only place in southern Kerala where cliffs are found adjacent to...

, Thiruvananthapuram district

Thiruvananthapuram district

Thiruvananthapuram District is the southernmost district of the Indian state of Kerala. It came into existence in the year 1957. The headquarters is the city of Thiruvananthapuram which is also the capital city of Kerala....

 to Kakkattu Matom Kesavar and Parvathy Amma.

Prof. N.Krishna Pillai was a prominent playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 who gave a new outlook to the Malayalam drama. He is known as “Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

”. The plays by N.Krishna Pillai mark the evolution of realism

Realism

Realism, Realist or Realistic are terms that describe any manifestation of philosophical realism, the belief that reality exists independently of observers, whether in philosophy itself or in the applied arts and sciences. In this broad sense it is frequently contrasted with Idealism.Realism in the...

, shedding farcical humour to undertake a serious study of character. His main works include Bhagna-Bhavanam (Broken Home) in 1942, Kanyaka (Spinster) in 1944, Balabalam (Might against might) in 1946, Anuranjanam (Compromise) in 1954, Mutakkumutal (Investment) in 1960, Kutathile vilakku (Lamp inside the pot) in 1972. He won the Sahithya Academy Award for his Literary criticism "Prathipathram Bhashanabhedam" in 1987.

N. Krishna Pillai died on 10 July 1988.