Guru Chemnacheri Kuniraman Nair, who died at the age of 104 on Monday, was a veteran Kathakali actor and was instrumental in popularizing classical dances like Bharatanatyam in northern Kerala.
Remarkably, he continued to perform until a few years ago. Age did not stop his passion for the stage. He was indeed one of the most enduring performing artists of Kerala. After learning the Kalladikodan school of Kathakali from Guru Karunakar Menon, he started performing at the age of 15.
Someone remembers seeing that Parashurama was played with great vigor before a full house at the town hall here about seven years ago.
His contribution as a teacher of classical dances in North Kerala, where there were few practitioners at the time, was also considerable. She trained many youngsters, who later became dance teachers. Classical dance was not going to take much in those days in Malabar. It would be decades ago when the State School Arts Festival would turn it into a much hyped program.
Many accolades
Chamanacheri, who received Padma Shri as well as the Centers and the Sangeeta Natak Academy Award from Kerala, was, in fact, the first guru of actor-dancer Vineeth, one of the biggest stars of the school festival. It was a sheer accident – quite literally, too – that she became a disciple of Chemnacheri.
Vineeth once told, “My mother was working as a doctor in a government hospital in Koyalandi and one day, she was badly injured in a road accident.” Hindu. “He was one of three doctors who treated him; When they recognized that she was a dancer, they decided to stop by shaking one of their fingers, though it was badly damaged. How can one show a pose in dance without a finger?
Vineeth’s mother was looking for a dance teacher at the time. Chemnacheri thus became his guru. In 2015, he performed Bharatanatyam in a ceremony to celebrate his Guru’s 99th birthday.
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