|
Brahmasree Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri:The Living
Legend With 30 Yrs Of Excellence In Thitampu Nritham
Brahmasree Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri (48), is a legend in the field
of Thitampu Nritham. His debut performance was at Sree Athiyampoor Subrahmanya
Swamy Temple, Kanhangad during the Shashthi Uthsavam-1979. He hails
from Chemmattam Vayal, kanhangad in Kasaragod district. He has performed
at almost all the temples(around 200) in north Kerala for the past 25yrs
.. He was inspired by Late Brahmasree Thekkillam Keshavan Embranthiri
(First Vethiramana Award Winner). He is also famous at the National
level throughout India. Video clippings of his performance is even included
in the topics of interest of the dance researchers in the foreign universities.
Thitampu Nritham exponent Sri Govindan Namboothiri, is now also well
known for developing this as a classical dance form. He was recently
honoured by many organizations for having brought out the possibilities
of this art form, making free from the rituals at temples. His performance
on the stage was appreciated by thousands of dance lovers including
fans from other religions. He was given the titles ‘Janakeeya Narthakan’
and ‘Thitampu Nritha Chakravarthy’ for the outstanding and valuable
contributions in this field. Last year, he has done a number of State
level programmes like Uthsav – 2007, Lavanyam – 2007.
He follows entirely Thekkan Saili and has excelled in this area. He
has received many honours during the past years from well known temples
like Sree (Chirakka Kavu,Thalassery,Kuttamath Bhagavathi Temple, Cheruvathur,
Pallikkunnu Mahavishnutemple, Kanathur, Edakkad Vishnu Temple, Kannur)
etc. Initially he has performed in the telecast on Doordarshan On "Kshethrakalakal"
(in section Thitampu Nritham) while he was performing at Sree Kollya
Mookambika Temple, Ullal. After that he performed in many times for
various local channels at Kasaragod like Indiavision, city channels
and his Nritham appears during the utsava season. His performance at
Veerabhadra Temple,Cheruvathur (The second famous Arattuthsavam of north
Kerala Vayalil Arattu) was captured by the Asianet and was telecasted.
His performance at Cherupuzha Ayyappa temple was considered the best
performance in the year 2005 by a panel of old and experienced experts.
His performance at Sree Vishnumangalam temple, Kanhangad will be telecasted
in the Surya channel under the programme "KELI". He will be performing
for the KAIRALI channel also soon. The legendary artist was honoured
by Doordarshan, Trivandrum in a programme ‘Kasavutheeram’ in 2007. He
is known to majority of celebrities in other fields as ‘Thitampu Nritha
Prathibha’. He was given the honour recently by Kollya Mutt Seva sangham,
Mangalore for the expertise shown in Thitampu Nritham.
His style of performing Thitampu Nritham is unique and makes attractive
to the viewers even without the knowledge of this divine art. It is
always found that there will be a large crowd to watch this performance
from areas far away from temples. He keeps all the conventional styles
as such with varities which comes under the new trend. He always says
"I perform Thitampu Nritham with bhakthi which is the secret of my success"
and he does not believe in the degrading tendencies by the new artists
to perform mere dance instead of Nritham due to lack of effort. He remains
performing different shailis (styles) for continuous 30 minutes each
for 4 Thalavattams (For continuous 2 hrs) and says the "ATANTHA" is
his favourite. He is becoming popular nowadays as he always sticks only
to this art and never tries to copy other dances and art forms. Govindan
Namboodiri has performed in more than a hundred temples even at the
age of 25 and won appreciation and numerous awards from his admirers.
Every year he performs at new temples in North Kerala and Karnataka.
He has delighted crowds in various parts of Karnataka including Mangalore
and Bangalore apart from the fans in Trivandrum, Kochi, Thrissur and
Calicut. It is a measure of his fame that people even from far way places
crowd to the temples where he is a performer. Every year Govindan Namboothiri
gets invitations from new temples. Such is his popularity. It is a reflection
on his devotion to this divine art that he is giving training to many
aspiring youngsters. He was the only artist selected for a 1 hr special
interview session by Indiavision in Thitampu section last year.
He respects all Thitampu artists whether they Follow Thekkan or Vatakkan
saili and continues with its majestic performance from Vrishchikam to
Medam. He comes to perform Thitampu Nritham under request which has
fascinated thousands of viewers (art lovers) and devotees irrespective
of weight of the Thitampu.It is a matter of special interest that there
are many temples where he continues to perform since he was assigned
since 1979!! He lives as pure Namboothiri with pooja and maintains old
tradition of the community. The soft spoken expert of Thitampu Nritham
is known by majority of marars in north kerala and respected by them.
He remembers how he was introduced by Kadannappalli Sankaran Kutty Marar
To Pallikkunnu Kanathoor temple for performance with Late Brahmasree
thekkillam Kesavan Embranthiri. It is a reflection on his devotion to
this divine art that he is giving training to many aspiring youngsters.
Further, he is doing research on the origin, Drumming, development,
scope andother peculiarities of this art and intends to bring out an
authentic book. The purpose is to rejuvenate Thitambu Nritham which
is facing eclipse. He is also trying to prepare 2 famous reference books
on Thitampu Nritham which is in the process of publication. He is known
as ‘GURUJI’ to the performers of other classical dance forms. A majority
of his fans believes that the honors received by him so far is not sufficient
to greet him for his excellence and the dedication he shows in this
field.
Courtesy: Members of committees of various
temples in Malabar, coordinators of various dance festivals, dance researchers
and other performing artists.
|
