Sathyanarayanan Govindan Kutty Nair

Sathyanarayanan Govindan Kutty Nair has been the leader, gurukkal (master) and secretary of the performing team of the CVN Kalari Sangham since January 2006. He is a full time gurukkal and physician at the Kalari Chikilsa Clinic at CVN Kalari, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. He started training in kalarippayattu at the age of 10 under his father Gurukkal Sri. C.V. Govindan Kutty Nair, son of Sri. C.V. Narayanan Nair, a great exponent of the martial art, credited for reviving the dying tradition of kalarippayattu in the 1950s. In 1981 and 1982 he won the State Kalarippayattu Championship competition. Since 1980 he has given kalarippayattu demonstrations at many national and international events (in Hong Kong, China, UK, France, Germany, Japan, USA, Canada). As a teacher, he has given kalarippayattu workshops at universities in India and abroad, and collaborated on numerous projects with researchers, actors, dancers as well as film and theatre artists (including Peter Brook and Phillip Zarrilli).