- Kalamandalam Gopi
Kalamandalam Gopi is one of the most famous
kathakali artistes fromKerala , southernIndia , celebrated for his seminal contributions to the aesthetics and popularity of the classical dance-drama across the world. With a happy blend of the solid body grammar of the highly stylisedKalluvazhi tradition in which he was groomed and the more flexible, part-realistic, emotion-laden southern style techniques he acquired later in his career, Gopi has won massive audience appreciation in Kerala and elsewhere regardless of one's aesthetic choices and biases.Tall, chirpy Gopiyasan, as he is fondly called by fans, is renowned for the romantic and dramatic portrayal of the virtuous pachcha roles in Kathakali, notable among them being
Nala ,Karna andRugmangada . He is equally adept in essaying the choreographically denser roles like Bheeman (in the storiesKalyanasougandhikam orBakavadham ), Arjuna (Subhadraharanam ) and Dharmaputrar (that'sYudhishthira inKirmeeravadham ). Gopi also excels in the yellow-faced pazhuppu roles such asBalabhadra , and has of late also branched out to portray variety roles like the anti-heroic Kathi (likeRavana ,Keechaka andDuryodhana ) black-bearded Kaatalan (Kiratham), red-beardedBali (Balivijayam) and even the semi-realistic looking Brahmanan in Santanagopalam.The 1937-born Gopi, a senior disciple of
Padma Bhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair and the lateKalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair besidesPadma Shri Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair , had his training in Kathakali fromKerala Kalamandalam nearShoranur . Before that, he had a brief career as a practitioner of the more folksyOttamthullal , the solo dance form with lyrics by the legendaryKunchan Nambiar , a pathbreaking satirist poet. That stint was followed by his initiation into Kathakali by a leading guru calledThekkinkattil Ramunni Nair at the Koodallur Mana (a mansion of an upper-casteNamboodiri family) near Gopi's nativeKothachira village in the cusp ofThrissur andPalakkad districts.As a teenager itself, Gopi, whose real name is Vadakke Manalath Govindan Nair, was noticed as a promising student, and he didn't belie expectations. (The story goes that Kalamandalam co-founder, poet
Vallathol Narayana Menon , was so impressed with Gopi's chiselled dusky facial features, that the candidate was made to skip the test of make-up ahead of his induction as a trainee.) Soon after completion of his course in Kalamandalam, Gopi was recruited as a staffer in his alma-mater. The institution then had a minor Kathakali troupe for its up-and-coming artistes, and Gopi soon turned out to be a rising star among them.By 1960s, his charming male protagonist roles found an equally graceful complement in the form of
Kottakkal Sivaraman , who too gained name as a leading exponent of female roles on the stage. Gopi, together with Sivaraman, a pupil ofPadma Shri Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair , soon made a glorious couple, especially as Nala-Damayanti. They still adorn stages as Karna and Kunthi, Rugmangadan and Mohini among many other roles. Of late, Gopi has a younger colleague,Margi Vijayakumar , acting opposite him oftener.Gopi, a recipient of the Central
Sangeet Natak Akademi award, retired from Kalamandalam in 1992 as its principal, aged 55, after 36 years of tutorial service, and now stays inMundoor , a village 12 km north of Thrissur, with his wife and two sons. He, however, is still busy as a Kathakali artiste -- gracing stages across his native Kerala, and the rest of India and abroad (mostly during the cultural off-season in his state). Scholars and avid Kathakali watchers alike acknowledge him as a legitimate successor to the legacy ofKalamandalam Krishnan Nair , arguably the greatest-ever Kathakali artiste, who died in1990 at the age of 75.World-famous filmmaker
Adoor Gopalakrishnan has made a documentary movie on the master. Titled Kalamandalam Gopi, the film won rave reviews across venues, and was shown at theInternational Film Festival of India in 2000 besides several prestigious festivals within India and the West and Far East. Incidentally, Gopi has also acted (without Kathakali make-up or costumes) in a couple ofMalayalam feature films likeVanaprastham (directed byShaji N. Karun ) andShantham (byJayaraj ).Gopi's select stage performances have been shot and brought out on a commercial basis on VCDs and DVDs, mainly by
Vedika , a cultural forum based in Thrissur.External links
* [http://pib.nic.in/archive/iffi2000/snpiffi2000ipnf1.html International Film Festival of India 2000 - Kalamandalam Gopi]
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