The South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur, is one of India’s seven Zonal Cultural Centres. On Thursday, 6 November 2023, Shri K. K. Gopalakrishnan assumed an additional charge as the Director of South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur. On Monday, 20 November 2023, Deputy Director in Change Shri Deepak Kulkarni welcomed Shri K. K. Gopalakrishnan at the Nagpur office. During this time, Shri K. K. Gopalakrishnan addressed all the officers and employees of the centre regarding increased prestigious cultural programmes.
K. K. Gopalakrishnan is the director of the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur. He was an officer at the State Bank of India but resigned to focus on art studies. He has also served as the director of the Centre for Kutiyattam of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi.
K. K. Gopalakrishnan is a writer-photographer of Kerala performing arts traditions and culture. He writes for the Sunday Magazine, Literary Review, and the Friday Review of The Hindu. As an eminent connoisseur and critic of performing arts, he has written extensively on arts and cultural issues. He is among a few founder-life members of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kannur Centre (Kerala). He wrote articles for Indian Horizons of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), India Perspectives (Magazine of the Embassies of India abroad), and chapters on arts and literature in the volume Pathfinders: A Journey Through India’s Art and Culture. He is the recipient of the Tagore National Research Scholarship from the Government of India, Ministry of Culture. He was awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Ministry of Culture, Delhi, for a study on Nangiarkoothu.
The sole art form that he learned is Kalarippayattu. His critically acclaimed ‘Kathakali Dance-Theatre – A Visual Narrative of Sacred Indian Mime’ was third and fourth in Amazon sales in the categories of books on dance and theatre, respectively. His illustrated academic book on Theyyam, the folk ritual tradition of cult worship in Northern Kerala, will be out soon from Niyogi Books.