Purisai Kannappa Sambandan
A fifth-generation Therukoothu artist from Purisai who took Tamil street theatre to Paris and Bogota, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2025.
Therukoothu is the all-night street theatre of Tamil Nadu’s villages, telling stories from the epics through song, dance and dialogue. Purisai Kannappa Sambandan is one of its leading artists. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of art, from Tamil Nadu [1].
Fifth generation
Sambandan was born on 16 October 1953 in Purisai village, Tiruvannamalai district, and is a fifth-generation artist of the Purisai school of Therukoothu [2]. He has played lead roles since 1977, the year he also joined National School of Drama workshops led by Bansi Kaul and Badal Sircar [2].
Koothu meets the world
He has taught Therukoothu at the National School of Drama, Pondicherry University and the Théâtre du Soleil in Paris [2]. His Therukoothu version of Gabriel García Márquez’s A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings drew attention at an international theatre festival in Bogotá in 1996 [2]. He has also adapted Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and choreographed the Therukoothu section of Ariane Mnouchkine’s Une Chambre en Inde [2].
He has performed in France, Sweden, Singapore, Colombia, the United States and Sri Lanka [2]. He won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for acting for 2012 and Tamil Nadu’s Kalaimamani in 1995 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2025: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2025: citation for Purisai Kannappa Sambandan — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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