KOCHI: The 95th birth anniversary of Kalasagar founder Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval will be held at Kalikotta Palace in Tripunithura on Tuesday. The event titled 'Oru Pirannalinte Ormakkayi' is being organised jointly by the Ministry of Culture and Tripunithura Kathakali Kendram.
The renowned Kalasagar Awards will be presented at the ceremony. The awardees include artists in the field of kathakali vesham and music, chenda, maddalam and chutty, besides bharathanatyam, mohiniyattom, kuchipudi, ottanthullal, chakyarkoothu, koodiyattam, thayambaka and panchavadyam – thimila, maddalam, edakka, thalam and kombu.
The programme will commence at 5 pm. The highlight of the event will be kathakali play 'Nalacharitham Onnam Divasam (Uthara Bhagam) in which Kottakal Devadas will be doing the role of King Nala for the first time. Sadanam Krishnankutty will don the role of Damayanthi while Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan will be the Hamsam.
Vellinezhi Haridas, Ranjini Suresh, Kalamandalam Chinosh Balan, FACT Biju Bhaskar, RLV Anuraj, Kalamandalam Babu Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Viswas, Kalamandalam Krishnadas, Kalamandalam Venumohan, Kottakkal Ravi, Kalanilayam Vishnu, Eroor Sasi and other eminent artists will be participating in the programme.
Writer C Radhakrishnan will be the guest of honour while K G Paulose, the first vice-chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University, will inaugurate the event.