he was trained in both southern (kaplingadan) and northern (kalluvazhi) style of kathakali. he was invited for higher studies when poet vallathol narayana menon started kerala kalamandalam at mulamkunnathukavu in thrissur. he got rigorous training under giants of the fields like pattikkamthodi ravunni menon, guru kunchu kurup and guru kavalappara narayanan nair. he studied rasa abhinaya under natyaacharya padma shri mani madhava chakkiyar. famous kathakali artiste kalamandalam krishnan nair and dancer ananda shivaram were then students in the first batch of kalamandalam.