'thidambu nritham art is my life'
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is a noted Indian dancer at temples. His thidambu nritham beats are taken in the hearts of devotees as well as dance followers in Kerala. He has captured back his dance life which would have been ended in the beginning itself. This happened due to unswerving hard work from him. In the initial segment of his dance life he loved Kathakali, the classic art of Kerala; same time committed life to thidambu nritham. Govindan namboothiri speaks on his extraordinarily long and outstanding dance life.
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is a famous malayali temple dancer who has deepened Indian dance with basic elements blended using variety of experimented steps. Puthumana was born in Chemmattamvayal street in Kanhangad of Kerala state. Enthralled by thidambu nritham rhythms at the age of 5, he had no interest other than enacting this dance form. He has experience of more than six decades in thidambu nritham and is still active. Puthumana has done thousands of performances, won many International awards, Indian awards and Kerala state awards. Puthumana, one of the greatest dancers in India says ‘When I look back sixty years, I think whatever thidambu nritham I’ve performed till today was concentrated to refine society in one way or other. I think it is god’s blessing which permitted me to center, center and center at a point. Now you can see that point as a shining star’. Puthumana has immense respect for his village Balla and Kasaragod district. We got an opportunity to spend few hours with Puthumana at Kanhangad. He opens up on the topic of thidambu nritham, his life and present stands.
Santhosh : Sir, you started watching and following thidambu nritham sixty years back and completed nearly fifty years with it. You were paying attention to the drifts and changes, but maintained a distance from that torrent. Now also your situate stay unmoved. In all your recitals, there is a jumble of old traditions and legacy; the other side of a contemporary approach of implementation. Can you explicate on the particulars?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: You see, only because of these reasons I was one of the most sidelined artists in our country. The thinking has come from the beliefs that only from imperial surroundings and high education novelty materialize. I only backer for the call for, and consequence of these sophisticated handling. There are bigger and deeper dispute in our essentials, why to disregard?
Now, I will tell about myself. I fitted in to a category of people from a backward area in northern part of Kerala. In the opening steps in my recitals, I consciously put this in for people to understand me. You cannot map out this anywhere in Kathakali. By that amalgamation and fortification, I haggard out the crafts and approaches for the future. Many times I had told this.
Santhosh: You are described as a dancer went into the folk. Analogous to this portrayal, you are being depicted as not into modernization of dance and so on. How you look at this?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: The one and only purpose of my thidambu nritham dance is to express what I experience. The sensation comes from experiences. I can’t speak..my footsteps and footpath articulate a story. I merge all the pictures, bits, pieces, mini stories etc from my background. I do not overlook the divine is the foremost light in front. I should always build from my surroundings. I provide an individuality to myself as a thidambu nritham performer from my surroundings. I look to my adjoining places. Then, my dance starts in myself. Both are parts of the same process. Do you know what I do? Isolation, speedy augmentation, powerful soreness, frantically gladness.. I bring into dance, nowhere only in the steps. During thidambu nritham, I take myself to childhood. There I set up a bond sandwiched between me as a child and neighboring. The process connect my inner and outer. You don’t mistake there is philosophy here, there is no values. Again and again, the intention is the oneness. Here I should track ceremonies when I dance with gods.
Santhosh: Do you go with imaginary backgrounds in thidambu nritham dance?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: You should be very conscious about place, sketches and suitable stepladders. Not only for a thidambu nritham dancer like me, for a writer, for an orator, for an artist, actor and all.
Santhosh: Do you remember your suffering and poor surroundings in a remote village during your childhood? You have written a lot about it. At this point in time, do you bear in mind anything?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: There are many memoirs about my early days in education. Being a child in those years, I was not interested to go to school. Do you know what my interest was? I wanted to take cattle to feed near the river and mountain valleys. I used to watch kathakali from evening till morning while I was very small kid. I used to think about kathakali and festival which will come up in the future and will not get sleep. Do you know, kathakali is normally accompanied by songs having an important effect. All those songs and steps were in my heart. I used to act out kathakali steps near river and valleys alone. My father required me to go and attend school. I wanted to become a thidambu nritham performer at temples. In all stages and states of my life, I had the ambition to become thidambu nritham artist. My school teachers used to ask all students in my class on their aim in life. Some answered ‘driver’, ‘doctor’, ‘engineer’ and ‘teacher’ by some others. To all those questions by teachers, I had a single answer ‘thidambu nritham artist’. Today at this age I do thidambu nritham practice every day because it is my life. I cannot even imagine a single day without my feet remembering and playing with it thakilati, atantha, chempata and panchari.
Santhosh: You began with few stages in temples. After that everything is history. You have done thousands of stages that has changed the inclinations in temple dance. It was like a silent movement in India. You have produced ineffaceable impressions in thidambu nritham. It was a very long journey of hardwork, dedication and a series of events. Could you share something about this extensive thidambu nritham cruise?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: What can I tell now ! You may refer to my thidambu nritham performances. I have been working for very long to reach this place.
Santhosh: Dance supporters identify your entry as beginning of a new wave in Indian dance. In Kerala, we have dance kathakali, there are many artists, writers, film directors, film actors and all who brought international appreciations like you, there are many artists in kathakali and ottamthullyal. What was your inspiration to move forward with thidambu nritham only?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: I told you, I will be happy only if I do thidambu nritham dance. I will not be satisfied with a day if I do not do that. It is an ingredient of my everyday life. My love for thidambu nritham is not for money, not for fame, not for recognition, not for award and not for anything else. I am doing what my heart tells.
Santhosh: You have been associated with many organizations. You are doing archetypal research in thidambu nritham and languages, thidambu nritham and literature, thidambu nritham and Indian culture. Your publications are quite popular. Your life, work, involvement and inputs in dance is like a mesmerizing dance for people from young age band. What is your advice to new generation?
Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: I do not believe in any pressure to do or instructions. You know, concerning my dance life, I never obeyed my father, mother or teachers (his eyes become wet). I have high regard just before all of them, except in my passion for thidambu nritham. ‘You should become an officer and a good farmer’ my father told me, I couldn’t. I happened to become a thidambu nritham dancer. A human being is a product of his or her thoughts and situations. One should try to dig new pathways and go forward. Another thing never forget the past, without keeping in mind your past, how can the truth in you exist?
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