Her necklace features Sree Padmanabha on a lavish slumber (anantha sayana). Her costume is strikingly unique with myriad lotus buds reigning on it. And, Gayathri Govind is in her elements. The quintessential mural colours - reds, blues and yellows - swayed with her Mohini act, while she danced her heart out before Padmanabha.
Gayathri is the first ever dancer to perform inside the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple on the occasion of its ‘Murajapam’. The temple recently opened its doors for various artists from across the country to perform before the lord as part of the festival.
“I always wanted to stand out from the crowd. So I choreographed the whole act performed at the temple on Swathi Thirunal Kirthanas,” says Gayathri.
Taking a detour from the gold and cream rules of Mohiniyattam costumes, Gayathri has designed hers in vibrant shades of murals. She had to specially design the border of the costume separately.
“The painting on the costume was done in a day by a mural painter himself. The whole border was hand drawn. But once it was completed, the effort was worth the while,” she says.
The winner of 2008 Vodafone ‘Thakadhimi’, in which cine artistes such as Rima Kallingal and Akhila were part of, Gayathri is a well-known face among Malayalis.
“Reality shows are certainly a boost for people like me, who are unable to showcase our talents before the world until then,” she says.
Her tryst with dancing started at the age of 3. Under the tutelage of Regatta Girija Chandran she took baby steps into Bharathanatyam and Mohiniyattam.
“It was not only Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam that interested me. I was taken away by the vibrancy of ‘Ottanthullal’ when I saw it once. Since then, I have been learning thullal as well,” says Gayathri.
Gayathri’s feats do not end with winning prices at youth festivals and reality shows. This engineer at HCL, who juggles family, dance and her career on a good day, has recently portrayed a society lady in the advertising campaign of one of India’s major tea brands ‘Society tea’. In the ad she is shown as herself, who smoothly handles both dance and career together.
“When they offered me this ad I couldn’t believe it. Because, ‘Society’ is not a popular brand in Kerala. But they did their research and came to me. It was a great exposure. The whole deal was excellent. The exposure I got from it is immense,” says Gayathri. The ad often shown in Star channels especially Star World has gained an international fan following for this danseuse.
Gayathri has been dabbling with dancing techniques ever since she started her group, Silver Streak. She is putting her choreography skills to good use by creating fusion and innovative styles in dance.
“All my performances at ‘Thakadhimi’ were single-handedly choreographed by me. So I had a passion for it from a very young age. Currently I choreograph most of Silver Streak’s performances. We have performed at many venues in and outside India,” she says. Unlike other Mohiniyattam performers, this dancer wants to expand her horizons and for that she brings in novelties into her art.
“I am a huge fan of Shobhana. There are many who criticise her fusions but I believe one should go beyond our comfort zones and try out newer things,” says Gayathri. She has choreographed Mohiniyattam to the songs of Chithra and Sreevalsan J Menon.
