Kalamandalam Gopi
| Vadakke Manalath Govindan Nair | |
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Kalamandalam Gopi during a public function in 2011.
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| Born |
Expression error: Unrecognized word "y". May 1937 Expression error: Unrecognized word "y". Kothachira, Palakkad, Kerala |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | Kalamandalam Gopi |
| Occupation | Kathakali Actor, actor |
Vadakke Manalath Govindan Nair (born 21 May 1937), popularly known as Kalamandalam Gopi, is an exponent of the classical dance-drama style known as Kathakali.
He is from the village of Kothachira in Kerala, southern India and he blends the solid body grammar of the highly stylised Kalluvazhi tradition in which he was groomed with the more flexible, part-realistic, emotion-laden southern style techniques he acquired later in his career. He is often referred to by his fans as Gopiyasan. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2009.
He is known for the romantic and dramatic portrayal of the virtuous pachcha roles in Kathakali, notable among them being Nalan, Karnan and Rukmangadan. He is equally adept in playing the choreographically denser roles like Bheeman (in the stories Kalyanasougandhikam or Bakavadham), Arjuna (Subhadraharanam) and Dharmaputrar (that's Yudhishthira in Kirmeeravadham). Nair, a Padma Shri awardee, also excels in the yellow-faced pazhuppu roles such as Balabhadra, and has of late also branched out to portray variety roles like the anti-heroic Kathi (like Ravana, Keechaka and Duryodhana) black-bearded Kaatalan (Kiratham), red-bearded Bali (Balivijayam) and even the semi-realistic looking Brahmanan in Santanagopalam.
He is a disciple of the award-winning Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair and Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, and was trained at Kerala Kalamandalam, near Shoranur. Before that, he had a brief career as a practitioner of the more folksy Ottamthullal, the solo dance form with lyrics by the Kunchan Nambiar, a satirical poet. That was followed by his initiation into Kathakali by a leading guru called Thekkinkattil Ramunni Nair at the Koodallur Mana (a mansion of an upper-caste Namboodiri family) near Kothachira.
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