Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair

Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair (1918-2007) was an eminent Kathakali exponent, equally known for his capacities as a tutor, theoretician and author of a few authentic texts on the classical dance-drama from Kerala in south India. [http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/04/stories/2007040424420400.htm] . Born to the legendary Kathakali guru Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Padmanabhan Nair was one of the early-batch students in Kerala Kalamandalam, where he subsequently joined as a teacher and retired as its principal in 1990. He died on April 3, 2007, at his home in Shoranur, near his alma mater, where he led his post-professorial life with wife and Mohiniyattam practitioner, Kalamandalam Sathyabhama. [http://international.zeenews.com/inner1.asp?aid=199149&sid=ART]

Padmanabhan Nair was born on October 7, 1928 in Kuruvattoor near the Kathakali village of Vellinezhi in the erstwhile Valluvanad territory, now in Palakkad district. After primary schooling, he joined Kalamandalam when he was ten years old. His master was his father, under whom he learnt the art form for over a decade. [Kathakali Encycopedia (Vijnanakosam), page 379] Srikrishnan in the classical storyplay Subhadraharanam was his debut stage. Padmanabhan Nair also underwent Kathakali studies at the PSV Natyasangham, Kottakkal, before being recruited in Kalamandalam in 1951. He served as its principal for five years since 1985.

Padmanabhan Nair was instrumental in training several Kathakali students, many of whom rose to gain name and fame later. Among them are Kalamandalam Gopi, Kuttan, Rajan, K.G. Vasudevan, M.P.S. Namboodiri, Kalluvazhi Vasu, K. Gopalakrishnan, Balasubramanian, Krishnakumar and Sreekumar. He served as visiting trainer for a while Gandhi Seva Sadan, better known as Sadanam Kathakali Akademi, east of Ottapalam.

On the Kathakali stage, Padmanabhan Nair excelled in a variety of roles that came under the categories of minukku, pachcha, kathi, kari and thaadi. His masterpieces included Hamsam in Nalacharitam Onnam Divasam, Brahmanan in Santanagopalam, Sudevan in Nalacharitam Moonnam Divasam, Sundara Brahmanan in Rukminiswayamvaram, Naradan in Balivijayam, Maatali in Kalakeyavadham, Bhiman in Bakavadham, Hanuman in Kalyanasougandhikam, Azhakiya Ravanan in Thoranayudham, Kaatalan in Nalacharitam Randaam Divasam, Nakrathundi in Kirmeeravadham and Bali in Balivadham.

Padmanabhan Nair has co-authored a book on his father-guru Pattikkamthodi. But his more weighty works are 'Kathakali Vesham' (1980) and 'Cholliyattam' (2000), both two-volume tomes that deal with the grammar and aesthetics of classical storyplays in the highly evolved Kalluvazhi school of Kathakali of north-central Kerala. He was a winner of the Government of India's Central Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1994) and the Kerala government's Kathakali Purasakaram (2006). [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2007/04/22/stories/2007042200190500.htm]

Padmanabhan Nair was essentially a traditionalist, but was open to adopting novel ideas on the Kathakali stage so long as he thought it didn't mar its classicism. He had donned the lead role of King Lear in an experimental eponymous Kathakali storyplay that won wide appreciation in the West.

As a person, it wasn't his character to flaunt his knowledge or be domineering even amid his pupils. Padmanabhan Nair was a modest, shy man and almost a reluctant performer who enjoyed being a methodist teacher than being a star actor-dancer. [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2007/03/02/stories/2007030200700200.htm]