Dr.V.R.Prabodhachandran Nayar is currently the Chairman of the Kerala Kalamandalam, the state-run world famous campus for performing arts in Kerala.
A former professor of Linguistics at Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram, and Dean of the Department of Oriental Studies here, he has held many other posts at the department.
A well-known academic, the professor is also hugely knowledgeable on classical dance, music and drama and can play the flute and the mirdangam.
Since he took charge, Dr. Nayar has worked on a few new ideas for the Kalamandalam.
In a recent conversation held at his home in Thiruvananthapuram, he shares his experiences.
Over the last few years, one gets the impression that Kerala Kalamandalam has become a dull place. Is that true?
The bureaucratic style had crept in. People on the campus were slow to react. There has been sluggishness all around. One couldn’t get proper information about courses and events and visitors to this famed campus were not even received properly, so they got disgusted. All this must have created a bad impression.
You have now introduced this grand concept called ‘A Day with the Masters’. What is it all about?
This concept was thought of by the state’s Department of Tourism. It has been launched recently. The idea behind it is to formally take tourists, Indian and foreign, and visitors, on a tour of the Kalamandalam campus. The tour will take visitors to all the classes, from Bharathanatyam to Kalaripayattu, which are in session. A student is trained to explain the art form to the visitors. They can also sit and watch the training.
To make it professional, we have a Project Executive in charge of this project. We have briefed travel agencies about it and we have received our first set of bookings too.
How will this rub off on the teachers and students?
I think that sluggishness will go. They will have to get smart and they will be watched by outsiders in class. We are even encouraging students to learn English so that they can themselves explain their art to guests. For the campus administrators, this is an opportunity to pull up their socks. We didn’t even have clean and smart washrooms. Guests weren’t even welcomed on campus. This will have to change.
The teaching standards have also fallen, one hears . . .
Overall, the teaching has been good. The tradition of over 70 years continues in the guru-sishya way. Local politics that has affected the campus but as Chairman, I make it clear that I will stick to the rules and follow them. I am now trying to ensure that the best qualities of a gurukula system continue here.
But do you still get the best talent to study here?
We have about 400 students and 70 teachers. A large number of poor youth who come here. Some of them are also talented. The poor come because they receive subsidised education, hostel and food facilities. Many of them however do not go on to be performing artistes. But our teachers and students do get many opportunities to perform. The relationship is good. Many temples, cultural organizations and others invite Kalamandalam artistes. They are in demand. But the vertical growth of artistes is just not there. For example, you may become famous as a Kathakali artiste when you turn 50. And at 55, you retire!
So the brand is still respected?
Yes. There are many people who are now exploiting the Kalamandalam name in different parts of India and outside. We have to do something legally to stop this exploitation.
Kerala Kalamandalam background
Towards the close of the nineteenth century, the traditional arts of Kerala were on the verge of extinction. The social, political and cultural factors which contributed to the downfall of the art forms are many and varied.
The dawn of the twentieth century witnessed a cultural renaissance all over India. In Kerala, among those who spearheaded the cultural renaissance, was poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.
Besides being an outstanding poet and scholar, Vallathol was a passionate lover of Kathakali and other similar classical dance-theatre traditions of Kerala. Against all odds, he took up the task of saving Kathakali and other stylized art-forms from eclipse. Kakkad Karanavappad, an eminent scholar and Manakkulam Mukundaraja, a devoted cultural activist, were an unending source of inspiration to Vallathol in the establishment of Kerala Kalamandalam, along the banks of the river Bharathapuzha in Cheruthuruthy, a small village in the northern edge of Thrissur District. This was in 1930.
The birth of Kalamandalam was remarkable in many respects. It was the first institutional step in the cultural history of Kerala to start training in classical performing arts which were so far left to the patronage of provincial kings and landlords.
(Information taken from the website of Kerala Kalamandalam.)
Contact : Kerala Kalamandalam.State Academy of Performing Arts, Cheruthuruthy,
P O, Kerala 679531, India. Ph: 91-488-462562 email: vrpnayar@yahoo.com
For more on Kerala Kalamandalm, courses, workshops, etc, log on to www.kalamandalam.com |
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