Kedamangalam Sadanandan

Kedamangalam Sadanandan Biography

Kedamangalam Sadanandan was a famous Kadhaprasangam (story telling performance) artist from North Paravur, Kerala. He was also known as a film actor, screenwriter and lyricist. One of the most popular and accomplished Kaadhikan (main artist of Kadhaprasangam) art form, he has performed 40 stories in 15,000 stages for over 50,000 hours in his whole career. He performed as a Kadhaprasangam artist for nearly 64 years till his death in 2008, aged 82. Apart from 12 Malayalam screenplays, he has penned lyrics for more than 100 film songs and has also played character roles in 40 Malayalam films. This artist is known for performing Changampuzha’s Ramanan in over 3500 stage shows, and its touching story was his personal favourite.

Sadanandan was born in Paravur of Ernakulam district in December 1926. He started his professional journey on stage as a monodramatist in 1944. Changampuzha Krishna Pillai's Vazhakkula and Ramanan are his first performances. He created new records by performing Ramanan in over 3500 stage shows over the years. He loved the touching lines from ‘Ramanan’. As a cine artist, he played character roles mostly in mythological and historic movies in the 1950s and 60s; Arappavan, Thaskaraveeran, Marumakal, Sree Guruvayoorappan, Swami Ayappan, Amma Ambika Ambalika and Thomasleeha to mention a few. Later he fully dedicated his life to stage shows.

Sambasivan Dhanya Kerala Praveen Award and the Kalaratnam award instituted by the Travancore Devaswom Board are the major honours received by him. He was also a recipient of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi fellowship and throughout his glorious career that lasted for 64 years, he received over 250 other honours. It was his dream to close his eyes forever while standing before the audience, telling a story. He was diagnosed with cancer during his last years. Yet he was not willing to take rest. His last performance was on February 16 2008, a couple of months before his death. Noted character artist Paravoor Bharathan was introduced to stage shows by Sadanandan.  

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Updated: December 30, 2015