Only those who have been uprooted know the void that displacement brings. When Ramachandran K arrived in Mumbai in 1990, he found no platform to watch a Kathakali or koodiyattam performance — something that was routine when he was studying to be a printing technologist in Thrissur, also home to the well-known performing arts centre, Kerala Kalamandalam. "But we must take our roots wherever we go," says the 57-year-old. And that was the genesis of Keli (good beginning in Malayalam), a Mumbai-based charitable organisation striving to preserve the classical cultural heritage of India. Its annual festival, which began in 1997, has celebrated an array of art forms including Mohiniattam, thayambaka and the vanishing rhythms of Kerala. This weekend it is back to where it all began.

Sadanam Krishnankutty in Narakasuravadham as Hanuman