EntertainmentPosted at: Nov 4 2025 2:56AM


Biennale run-up: Koodiyattam Outreach at Kottayam on Nov 5

Kottayam, Nov 3 (UNI) Taking forward its outreach and pavilion programmes in the run-up to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025 (KMB-6) beginning next month, a day-long event on the world’s oldest surviving Sanskrit theatre will be hosted in the city on November 5.
The Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), which is organising the 109-day festival from December 12, is set to launch its performing-art segment with a show of Kerala’s 1,800-year-old Koodiyattam and discussions focusing its present-day relevance in a fast-changing socio-political context.
Named ‘Art…Time...Conflict’, the segment, curated by scholar-activist Keli Ramachandran, will feature its inaugural event at Mahatma Gandhi University on November 5, debating the themes of art, time and conflict.
Titled ‘Encore’, the day-long programme at the varsity campus in Athirampuzha will explore the various dynamics of culture in relation to power, identity, resistance, practices (spatial and material), emotions and rhetoric, he revealed.
At the Inter University Centre for Studies in Science of Music (IUCSSM) on PD Hills, MG University Vice Chancellor Prof C.T. Aravindakumar will inaugurate the event at 10 am.
The forenoon half will feature Kalamandalam Krishnendu and group staging a Nangiarkoothu, which is a solo-female offshoot of Koodiyattam.
The post-lunch session will start at 1.30 pm with a seminar, where two scholars will present papers. Kerala Kalamandalam Vice-Chancellor Dr B. Ananthakrishnan will talk on ‘Art and Caste – A Kalamandalam Story’, while Dr Aju K Narayanan’s topic is ‘Cultural Politics of Arts’.
Subsequently, senior Koodiyattam artists Kalamandalam Sivan Namboothiri, Rama Chakyar, Girija and Shylaja, besides mizhavu percussionist Easwaranunni will be felicitated. They will then participate in a colloquium and present informal performances.
The Kottayam event comes in the 76th year of the Koothu segment of Koodiyattam finding a public stage. That was in 1949 when Rama Chakyar, a native of Painkulam near Shoranur, gave a presentation at a house in Cherupoyka near Kottarakkara in south Travancore.
The master went on with his revolutionary efforts to break caste barriers by mentoring artists beyond the small community that practised the art when Kalamandalam invited him as the chief teacher on its introduction of Koodiyattam as a department in 1965.
Also, the institution in Cheruthuruthy appointed Narayanan Nambiar of Lakkidi as the instructor for mizhavu. This generated several students of the mizhavu pot-drum, which is the main percussion instrument of Koodiyattam and Nangiarkoothu.
By the turn of the century, in 2000, UNESCO recognized Koodiyattam as one of the masterpieces of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, affirming its global cultural significance.
At the Kottayam event, Sivan Namboothiri, Rama Chakyar, Girija and Shylaja are of the first batch of Koodiyattam students from Kerala Kalamandalam.
KMB-6 has its artworks curated by Nikhil Chopra with HH Art Spaces, Goa. The show will be on till March 31, 2026. KBF is a 2010-registered non-profit charitable trust.
UNI DS SSP
Please log in to get detailed story.
Tags: #Biennale run-up: Koodiyattam Outreach at Kottayam on Nov 5
More News

Disney developing live-action ‘Gaston Spinoff’ from ‘Beauty and the Beast’

16 Dec 2025 | 1:13 PM

Los Angeles,Dec 16 (UNI) Disney is developing a live-action spinoff film centered on ‘Gaston,’ the boastful and brawny antagonist from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ reports Variety.

see more..

Ananya Panday, Black Warrant shine at ‘Filmfare OTT Awards’

16 Dec 2025 | 12:44 PM

Mumbai, Dec 16 (UNI) The sixth edition of the Filmfare OTT Awards celebrated the best of digital entertainment, with Black Warrant emerging as the biggest winner of the night by securing the top honour for Best OTT Series. The awards were announced on Monday night.

see more..

Amid ‘Dhurandhar’ blockbuster run, Ranveer Singh reflects on destiny

16 Dec 2025 | 12:34 PM

New Delhi, Dec 16 (UNI) Ranveer Singh shared a cryptic note on destiny and patience amid the blockbuster success of his latest release, 'Dhurandhar'.

see more..

TV actor Anuj Sachdeva attacked in Goregaon with rod over parking dispute

16 Dec 2025 | 10:15 AM

Mumbai, Dec 16 (UNI) Actor Anuj Sachdeva, known for his roles in television shows like 'Phir Subah Hogi' and 'Itti Si Khushi', was assaulted in public in a shocking incident that left him injured.

see more..

Dakota Johnson shares stage with Lily Allen on ‘Saturday Night Live’

16 Dec 2025 | 9:29 AM

Washington, Dec 16 (UNI) Dakota Johnson made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, joining Lily Allen during the singer’s musical guest performance, according to People.

see more..