Guru Gopinath - Significance

Significance

Guru Gopinath was well tempered by traditional discipline, but he expanded the framework of tradition. He was instrumental in introducing and popularising Kathakali, the illustrious dance drama of Kerala, lying in obscurity, to the outer world.

He is considered one of the epic personalities of Indian dancing in the twentieth century like Uday Shankar. He carved out a contemporary style of dancing, classical in form but popular in appeal, through which the fame of Kathakali spread far and wide in the beginning of the 1930s.

He showed how Indian dancing could handle themes other than those from Hindu mythology. Indian classical dance is the language of humanity, the global language. He popularised it by choreographing dance and ballets having biblical social current and political themes.

He was trained in both southern (Kaplingadan) and northern (Kalluvazhi) style of Kathakali. He was invited for higher studies when poet Vallathol Narayana Menon started Kerala Kalamandalam at Mulamkunnathukavu in Thrissur. He got rigorous training under giants of the fields like Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Guru Kunchu Kurup and Guru Kavalappara Narayanan Nair. He studied Rasa Abhinaya under Natyaacharya Padma Shri Mani Madhava Chakkiyar. Famous Kathakali artiste Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair and dancer Ananda Shivaram were then students in the first batch of Kalamandalam.

He was dance partner to Ragini Devi- formerly Esther Luella Sherman - an American born dancer from Michigan. Guru Gopinath and Ragini Devi made their first stage performance in Mumbai in December 1932.

The success of this performance encouraged them for more stage shows and an all India tour, making performances and lecture- demonstrations on Indian classical dance. Kathakali and dancing were thus made popular, which was comprehensive to the layman and connoisseur alike.

When Rabindranath Tagore saw young Gopinath's performance in early thirties he wrote an appreciation on the dancer:

"Mr Gopinath is a real artist and I am sure there are not many who could rightfully take their stand by his side either in India or abroad. He brought to my mind glimpses of the great past when dancing was one of the most treasured arts in India and not as today, a mere device of whetting up the jaded appetite of the idle rich. His presence in our midst was a great lesson and now that dancing is again coming into vogue amongst us, his style should give us a correct lead, for in want of it, we are yet groping in the dark."

He was awarded the Veera Srumkhala from, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma the King of Travancore. The Guru Status was awarded later by Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). The Rabindra Bharathi University honoured him with a doctorate. His statue was erected in Viswa Bharathi University. His illustrious demonsrarion of Nava Rasa(the nine emotions) is featured in major museums in U.S., France, Germany and Switzerland.

Kathakali style of dancing and training was a male monopoly. It was Guru Gopinath who experimented and proved that girls can perform Kathakali. He was appointed as the palace dancer and principal of the dance institution run by the royal family. The Natananiketan in Chennai and the Viswa Kala Kendra in Trivandrum the International Kathakali Centre in Delhi were institutions founded by him.

Malayalam film history has noted Guru Gopinath as one among the actors of the beginning years. He has acted in the movie Prahlada as Hiranyakasipu. This was the sixth Malayalam movie and the third movie having sound tracks.

He has made guest appearances as Jesus Christ in Jeevithanauka and Poothana in Bhakathakuchela.

Guru Gopinath was one such artist who could show the nuances of the nine emotions in Kathakali and he could show different emotions on each half of his face at the same time.

He died on stage, as he wished, with makeup, attire and anklets while enacting the role of King Dasaratha in his famous ballet Ramayana on 9 October 1987 at Fine Arts Hall Eranakulam.

A dance museum is coming up as his memorial at Trivandrum. The Kerala government has already established a dance village named 'Guru Gopinath Natanagramam'.

Guru Gopinath has traveled and performed in many parts of the world. He made performances in USA, erstwhile USSR and Sri Lanka. He was a member of the first cultural delegation of independent India to the USSR in 1954. Among them was the great Indian Dancer Tara Chaudhri, the only North Indian born dancer performing dances from the south. He was invited as a judge of Classical Dances in the Eighth World Youth Festival held at Helsinki, Finland in 1961.