Velayudhan Sambasivan (4 July 1929 – 23 April 1996) was a famous "

Kadhaprasangam Kadhaprasangam (''lyrical narrative'' or ''story telling performance'') is a performing art of Kerala, India. Performance It combines speaking, acting, and singing to present a story. Costumes, make-up, or settings are not used. The main ar ...

" artist of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was born on 4 July 1929 in

Chavara Thekkumbhagom Chavara Thekkumbhagom or ''Chavara South'' is a village in Kollam district in the Indian state of Kerala. Notable people * V.Sambasivan - a performer of the art Kadhaprasangam. written by himself and Othello by Shakespeare. See also * Koll ...

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

district, as the eldest son of Meloottu Velayudhan and Sarada. He had seven siblings. After schooling in his native village he joined Sree Narayana College, Kollam for higher studies where he was associated with the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

and its student wing

AISF The All India Students' Federation (AISF) is the oldest surviving student organisation in India, founded in 1936. Pre-independence AISF was founded on 12 August 1936, with guidance and cooperation from the Indian independence movement. The ...

. His gift for singing and acting earned him the name of an artist very early in his life. He started his career as a teacher but quit the job to become a full-time artiste. With his inimitable style in story-telling, he soon became one of the most popular artists of Kerala with immense mass appeal. He presented more than 50 stories on stage including

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' and

Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's ''

The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...

''. Being a member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

he was arrested and imprisoned in 1975, during the

Indian Emergency The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution beca ...

declared by the then regime headed by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

on 23 April 1996, aged 67. Sambasivan received the

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship is an honour presented by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Depa ...

in 1980. He has acted in a feature film 'Pallamkuzhi' and in a documentary on poet

Kumaran Asan Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (Malayalam: എൻ. കുമാരൻ ആശാൻ) (12 April 1873 – 16 January 1924) was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam ...

. V. Sambasivan was married to Subhadra. His eldest son Dr. Vasanthakumar Sambasivan , a Professor of Chemistry at Sree Narayana College, Kollam follows his father's way. Other than Vasanthakumar, he has three more sons named Prasanth, Jinaraj and Jesus, and a daughter named Aishwarya. Mrs. Subhadra Sambasivan died on 20 February 2021 aged 80. Discography # Devatha (1949) # Kochuseetha (1949) # Magdalanamariyam (1950) # Vazhakkula (1951) # Vathsala (1951) # Bharathastreekalthan Bhavashudhi (1952) # Aayisha (1953) # Tharavadinte Manam (1953) # Puthankalavum Arivalum (1954) # Rani (1955) # Pattunoolum Vazhanarum (1956) # Kudiozhikkal (1957) # Premashilpi (1958) # Thara (1959) # Pareekshanam (1960) # Pulliman (1961) # Chandanakattil (1962) # Aneesya (1963) # Othello (1964) # Antigone (1965) # Kakkathampurati (1966) # Melangi (1967) # Annakarenina (1968) # Romeo & Juliet (1969) # Uyirthezhunelppu (1970) # Don shanthamayi ozhukunnu (1971) # Hena (1972) # Kumaranasan (1973) # Vilakk Vangam (1974) # Nellinte Geetham (1975) # Irupatham Noottandu(1976) # Sree Narayana Gurudevan (1976) # Nallabhoomi (1977) # Rainbow (1978) # Samkranthi (1979) # Ghost (1980) # Yanthram (1981) # Cleopatra (1982) # Karamazov Sahodaranamar (1983) # Devalokam (1984) # Prathi (1985) # Divyatheertham (1986) # Sanatta (1986) # Deshasnehi (1987) # Artham (1988) # Vyasanum Marxum (1989) # Labham Labham (1990) # 1857 (1990) # Z (1991) # Jalasechanam (1991) # Kuttavum Shikshayum (1992) # Siddhartha (1993) # Pathivrethayude Kamukan (1994) # Ezhu Nimishangal (1995) Sambasivan's last stage performance was on 7 March 1996, Pankulam Madan Nada temple, Attingal where he performed "Ezhu Nimishangal".

References

Indian storytellers Sree Narayana College, Kollam alumni 1996 deaths 1929 births People from Kollam district Artists from Kerala Deaths from lung cancer in India Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship {{India-bio-stub