Veteran film maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who made a documentary Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair (RN), recalls the time he shared with the legend.
“When I sent a proposal to the Sangeet Natak Akademi about wanting to make a film on Ramankutty, they accepted to sponsor it at once. RN was 80 when I decided to direct the film. It was my gift to him on his Sadabhishekam.”
Adoor spent ten days with RN, covering his life… from his childhood in the village of Vellinezhi near Palghat to his days as principal of Kalamandalam. Recalls Adoor, “His make-up alone would take three to five hours, and RN would patiently bear the discomfort.”Adoor captured the depth of RN’s portrayals of characters such as Ravanan, Sisupala and Hanuman with poignancy. Adoor concludes by saying that he saw RN at his physical and emotional best during the preview of this film in Thiruvananthapuram.
The rich tributes paid to him that evening by all those who attended and watched the film were so rightly bestowed upon the thespian, who will be sorely missed by the Kathakali world, in particular, and the art world at large.
