G. Venu

Gopalan Nair Venu popularly known as G. Venu (or Venu G. and affectionately Venuji ) is a Koodiyattam and Kathakali exponent, choreographer and research scholar from Kerala, India. He received several awards and honors including Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award, Kerala Kalamandalam Award, Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his overall contributions in the field of performing arts. Being first person from a caste lower than Chakyar to study Koodiyattam, he is also the first person from a non-Chakyar community to receive the Kerala Kalamandalam Fellowship for Koodiyattam.

Biography G. Venu was born on 1 July 1945, in Pappanamcode, in present-day Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala to Chittore Gopalan Nair and Sumathy Kutty Amma. At the age of eleven, he started studying Kathakali from Keerickattu Sankar Pillai, and later done advanced studies from Guru Gopinath and Chengannur Raman Pillai. He studied Kathakali for three years under Keerikattu Sankaran Pillai and for five years under Guru Gopinath.

Venu, who studied Kathakali, came to Bhopal in 1966 to teach Kathakali for the Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad. There, he got the opportunity to learn Kathak and Manipuri dance, in addition to instruments in Hindustani music.

Contributions It was during his Kathakali studies that Venu developed an interest in Mudras, the hand gestures of the Indian classical visual arts. Having done extensive research on the subject, he later created a sophisticated dance notation system to define mudra in Kerala visual arts, including Kathakali, Koodiyattam and Mohiniyattam. In 1977, the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi published his book, containing detailed descriptions of his 373 mudras, titled Kathakaliyile Kai mudrakal (Hand Signs in Kathakali), which was later translated into English in 1984 by Venu's own institution, Natana Kairali, under the title Mudras in Kathakali. He has written 20 books on the techniques of the performing arts. The monograph on Tholpavakoothu was published by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Venu and his guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar were among the people who played a role in modernizing and popularizing Koodiyattam. Venu was the first to ask Ammannur to teach this art, which was performed only by the Chakyar community, to people from other communities, particularly lower. Ammannur agreed and made Venu his disciple. Through this, Venu became the first person to learn Koodiyattam from a community below the Chakyar community.

Venu was also among the people who took the initiative to present Koodiyattam, a temple art, on a public stage. Noted examples include the revival of Pavakathakali, the Kathakali using puppets, and revival of Tholppava koothu. Other folk and ritualistic art forms that he had involved in revival include Kakkarissi Natakam, Padayani and Mudiyettu.

In recognition of his career, he was nominated to the Expert Committee of UNESCO's Asian Cultural Center. Through his adaptations he combine theatre with socio-political consciousness.

He was inspired to stage Mṛcchakatika in the form of a Koodiyattam after renowned theatre director Habib Tanvir requested him that he should also prepare Mṛcchakatika as Koodiyattam, after watching Abhijnanasakuntalam directed by Venu.

Awards and honors G. Venu received several awards and honors including Homi Bhaba Fellowship, DakshinaChitra Viruthu, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2007, Kerala Kalamandalam Award from Kerala Kalamandalam in 2005, Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture from Japan in 2007, and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award by Kerala Sahitya Akademi in 1977.

In 2023, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his overall contributions in the field of performing arts. He has also received the 2024 Vayosevana (meaning: senior citizens' service) Award for Comprehensive Contribution from the Department of Higher Education and Social Justice, Government of Kerala.

In 2023 October, Venu received the Nruthya Pitamaha (meaning: Great father in dance) title from the Urise Vedic Sangeetha Academy, Bangalore.