38 Facts About Guru Gopinath

Perumanoor Gopinathan Pillai, more popularly known as Guru Gopinath was a well known Indian actor-cum-dancer.

Guru Gopinath is well regarded as the greatest preserver of the dance tradition.

Guru Gopinath is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship, and the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award.

Guru Gopinath was well tempered by traditional discipline, but he expanded the framework of tradition.

Guru Gopinath was instrumental in introducing and popularising Kathakali, the illustrious dance drama of Kerala, lying in obscurity, to the outer world.

Guru Gopinath is considered one of the epic personalities of Indian dancing in the 20th century like Uday Shankar.

Guru Gopinath 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.

Guru Gopinath showed how Indian dancing could handle themes other an than those from Hindu mythology.

Guru Gopinath popularised it by choreographing dance and ballets having biblical social current and political themes.

Guru Gopinath was trained in both southern and northern style of Kathakali.

Guru Gopinath was invited for higher studies when poet Vallathol Narayana Menon started Kerala Kalamandalam at Mulamkunnathukavu in Thrissur.

Guru Gopinath received training from masters in the field, such as Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Guru Kunchu Kurup and Guru Kavalappara Narayanan Nair.

Guru Gopinath studied Rasa Abhinaya under Natyaacharya Padma Shri Mani Madhava Chakkiyar.

Guru Gopinath was dance partner to Ragini Devi, formerly Esther Luella Sherman, an American-born dancer from Michigan.

Guru Gopinath 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.

Guru Gopinath's 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.

Guru Gopinath was awarded the Veera Srumkhala from, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma the King of Travancore.

The Guru Gopinath Status was awarded later by Indian People's Theatre Association.

Guru Gopinath was appointed as the palace dancer and principal of the dance institution run by the royal family.

Guru Gopinath has acted in the movie Prahlada as Hiranyakasipu.

Guru Gopinath 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.

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

Guru Gopinath has travelled and performed in many parts of the world.

Guru Gopinath made performances in US, erstwhile USSR and Sri Lanka.

Guru Gopinath was a member of the first cultural delegation of independent India to the USSR in 1954.

Guru Gopinath was invited as a judge of Classical Dances in the Eighth World Youth Festival held at Helsinki, Finland in 1961.

Guru Gopinath was born on 24 June 1908, as the second son of Madhavi Amma and Kaippilli Sankara Pillai, in Champakulam, Kuttanad now in Alappuzha district of Kerala.

Guru Gopinath instructed him to hand over the bows and arrows when a man with glittering headgear comes and bestow him.

Guru Gopinath was married to Mulakkal Thankamani Amma, a great Mohiniyattam dancer and exponent of Kerala Natanam.

Guru Gopinath was the first student of Mohiniyattam at Kerala Kalamandalam in early 30s, when Poet Vallathol Narayana Menon and Manakkulam Mukunda Raja started a course to revive this dying art form.

Guru Gopinath made "Kathakali" more accessible to teachers, students and audience.

Guru Gopinath developed his own style that was appealing to the masses who were then devoid of art and dance, without compromising on the classical background.

Guru Gopinath never tried to reform Kathakali and to tamper with the originality and purity it possessed.

Guru Gopinath was instrumental to bring Kathakali out from the courtyards of upper class Brahmins and Nairs and rajas and dance chambers of temples to the masses.

Guru Gopinath's performances created a dance wave in Kerala, which had reprecations all over India in thirties and forties.

Guru Gopinath was an exponent of various styles of Indian dances.

Guru Gopinath has written books in Malayalam and English, which explain theory and practise of Indian and Kerala dances.