Dr Nelliat Curundadath Shyamalan, a cardiologist and father of acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker M Night Shyamalan, passed away on November 4 in the United States. He was 88. His funeral was held on November 7 in Pennsylvania.

Born in Mahe, Pondicherry, Shyamalan spent his childhood in Singapore and Malaya, where his father managed a rubber estate. After his father’s death in 1946, he returned to Mahe. He studied at Brennan College, Thalassery, and graduated in medicine from JIPMER, Pondicherry, before moving to the US for higher studies.

Dr Shyamalan authored North Africa to North Malabar: An Ancestral Journey, exploring the probable origins of the Thiyya community of North Malabar, to which he belonged. He also played a cameo role as a producer in his son’s debut feature film, Praying with

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