KOCHI: C Bhagyanath, illustrator and artist, received the first Artist Namboodiri Samman from actor Mohanlal. The event held on Saturday was organised by the Artist Namboodiri Samman Trust, in association with Jyoti Solar, Lalitha Kala Academy, and Ernakulam Karayogam. “Receiving an award named after a legendary artist, and that too from a legendary actor who has portrayed many roles for us, I feel I am truly fortunate, just like my name suggests,” said Bhagyanath after receiving the award.
The awardee was chosen from applications received from across the country. From an initial shortlist of 10 artists prepared by a preliminary jury, the final selection was made by the main panel, comprising senior journalist K C Narayanan as the chairman, Murali Cheeroth, chairperson of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, and cartoonist-writer Ravishankar Etteth. At the event, a documentary based on Artist Namboodiri’s life, ‘Namboodiri – Kalayude Kulapathi’, was also screened.
The event was presided over by Babu Joseph, the managing trustee. K C Narayanan, Murali Cheeroth, Ravishankar Etteth, Binuraj Kalapeedom, Artist Namboodiri’s son and trust member K M Vasudevan, and Sudheer Nath, chairman of the Kerala Cartoon Academy, spoke at the event.