Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair Biography 
Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair was a legendary Kathakali artist from Vellinezhi of Palakkad district, Kerala. Dedicated a whole life towards the promotion of this art form, Nair lived during the period, 1916–2007. A genius of art, he gave different shades and expressions to different characters he portrayed, and also give different and individual knowledge with different expressions to his disciples. Without any changes, he gave his tradition to his son Padmanabhan. He was a recipient of Padma Shri in 2004. Kendra Sahitya Academy Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship and the Kalamandalam award are other major honours received by him.
Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair was born on 1916 in Vellinezhi village of Palakkad district. He started learning Kathakali in the traditional Kalluvazhi style at the age of five from the legendary Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon. While learning his art form from the famous Kerala Kalamandalam, Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair was his classmate. Soon after studies he realized that conditions in Kerala much not promote this art form, which disappointed him a lot. So he moved to Chennai in hope of better opportunities. But this decision hurt his guru, Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon.
In Chennai, he succeeded as a dance master and got opportunity to choreographg this art form for cine actor Ranjan. He also worked with M.G. Ramachandran who was active in film career then, before joining politics. He soon returned to Kalamandalam as a tutor. But when he was asked to work with the dance section, due to displeasure he left Kalamandalam. After that he worked in many schools as a teacher of Kathakali. He retired from his career in 2004 and passed away three years later.
Published: September 04, 2018
Updated: September 04, 2018
