Legendary Indian Dance Exponent ‘Kala Shri’ Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri

 

Legendary Indian Dance Exponent ‘Kala Shri’ Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri

Thidambu nritham is an Indian temple dance originated in northern part of Kerala, a state in India, like the traditional dance form Kathakali . Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is an exponent of thidambu nritham who has popularized this dance form to various parts of India. He has redefined, rejuvenated and innovated on thidambu nritham. Govindan Namboothiri has worked on the basics of this dance form, extracted  its ‘artistic contents’ by separating it out from ritualistic nature and modified it in such a way that the dance could be presentable on open stage in front of millions. He enjoys and appreciates Kathakali, a classical Kerala dance form. He has dedicated his life to thidambu nritham for more than fifty years. The hard work of Govindan Namboothiri  is far and wide acknowledged and cherished all over the world. It was an amusing astonish for the audience of Kerala to see Govindan Namboothiri performing thidambu nritham in open air by taking it out from the boundaries of the temple premises. It had created revolution like the way Kathakali exponents had contributed earlier in the 19^th century in various parts of Kerala. For more than six decades of dedication to the field, Govindan Namboothiri has received numerous awards from the state of Kerala and outside as well. Considering his contributions to the field of art, Government of Kerala has awarded him with the highest honour, the prestigious Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy Kala Shree title and KSNA award in the year 2014. He had received the award in 2015 from Devaswom minister V S Sivakumar in 2015. It was a new beginning and establishment of a history because Govindan Namboothiri was the only thidambu nritham artist to receive Kala Shree title, while several Kathakali and other leading exponents in his close association junior to him had received it much earlier.  Recently, Govindan Namboothiri has received the first Kerala State Kshethra Kala Academy award for the year 2017. He has received the title Kshethra Kala Shree  and state award in 2018 and has again established his distinction in the field of dance. He has accepted the title from Devaswom minister Kadakampalli Surendran and the whole country salutes ‘Guru ji’ Govindan Namboothiri, the honour which artists from other dance areas including Kathakali precisely appraise him.