Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair

Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair is one of the most senior performers of Kathakali, having been a grand and sober presence on the classical art form's stage for a span of over seven decades. [ [http://www.hindu.com/mag/2003/10/19/stories/2003101900330500.htm Article on the dancing legend in the Hindu] ] More than the longevity, it is the poise and precision of his body movements that enable him to stand out as a master craftsman of the heavily stylised Kalluvazhi style of Kathakali.

If Kathakali, like any refined classical dance-drama, is poetry in motion, then Ramankutty Nair, with his jerkless and polished movement of the limbs and torso, best exemplifies it. He owes the purity of his style to his legendary guru Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, his only teacher in his entire career. Both hail from Vellinezhi, which is still known for churning out a lot of Kathakali artistes, in Palakkad district of Kerala in south India. Ramankutty Nair served for long in his alma mater, Kerala Kalamandalam, and went on to become its principal.

Of all roles, he has been most celebrated for the portrayal of the anti-hero Kathi roles. His Ravana, Duryodhana, Keechaka and Cheriya Narakasura have had few parallels in perfection and power. He is equally a master in the essay of the Hanuman, the monkey-god in the three storyplays of Kalyanasougandhikam, Thoranayuddham and Lavanasuravadham. It was, however, through a pathbreaking portrayal of sage Parasurama in semi-realistic make-up and costumes (in place of the traditional yellow-hued pazhuppu vesham) that earned Ramankutty Nair much acclaim in his earlier days.

His medium build and average facial features don't make him particularly slotted for the romantic pachcha (green-hued) Kathakali heroes like Nala, Karna or Rugmangada. All the same, Ramankutty Nair has been a role model for many in the potrayal of the protagonists (Bhima, Arjuna and Yudhishthira) in the choreographically complex and challenging Kottayam plays (Kalyanasougandhikam, Bakavadham, Kalakeyavadham and Kirmeeravadham). The master is equally an exemplary presence in breezy portrayal of the black-bearded Kaattaalan (woodsman) in Nalacharitam Randam Divasam. His Brahmana in Santanagopalam too has been counted among his lead roles.

Overall, his career, steeped in sheer determination to stick to the classicism of Kathakali, has juxtaposed with his more popular contemporary, the late Padma Shri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, who was known for his improvisation-filled, vibrant, more colourful and at times outlandish portrayal of roles. It's another matter that they made a hit pair in Kalyanasougandhikam with Krishnan Nair as the Pandava prince Bhima and Ramankutty Nair as his elder brother Hanuman, the son of Vayu. (Gopi as Bhima too has always been a good cast against Ramankutty Nair, while Kottakkal Sivaraman made his Sairandhri a hit opposite Ramankutty Nair's Keechaka.)

Born in 1929, Ramankutty Nair hailed from a family with no Kathakali pedegree. But Ravunni Menon, a resident tutor at the renowned Olappamanna Mana (a mansion of the upper-caste Namboodiris) was an overarching presence in the cultural scene of the village, and soon little Ramankutty too fell under his spell. At Kerala Kalamandalam, where he subsequently mastered the art, Ramankutty Nair later sculpted out several disciples, the most prominent among them being Kalamandalam Gopi besides M.P.S. Namboodiri, Balasubramanian and the late K. Gopalakrishnan. Many of the younger generation Kathakali artistes from Kalamandalam, like Soman and Shanmughan, too have had Ramankutty Nair as their guru for advanced training. (He retired as principal of Kalamandalam in 1985). Currently, he is the chairman of Gandhi Seva Sadan, or Sadanam Kathakali Akademi as it is better known. Still active as an artiste, the master has performed across Kerala, besides having graced stages in the rest of India and several countries of the world.

The generally reticent Ramankutty Nair, who has penned an autobiography named Thiranottam, is a winner of the coveted Padma Bhushan award of the Government of India. Renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has made an eponymous documentary on Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair. [ [http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2006/08/18/stories/2006081800860200.htm Review of the dancer's performance in the Hindu] ] of Kathakali, and is a film by the same name on him by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. [ [http://www.deccanherald.com/Archives/jul32005/finearts113624200572.asp Interview of the director on the film in Deccan Herald] ] [ [http://www.lff.org.uk/films_details.php?FilmID=731 "Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair" at London Film Festival] ]

The master lives in his native Vellinezhi with his wife Saraswati.

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*imdb title|0469777|Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair