Cheruthuruthy: As a major impact of the Mathrubhumi campaign, a decision to keep the admissions to all categories of courses, including Mohiniyattam, at the Kerala Kalamandalam open for both boys and girls alike has been taken. 

Kalamandalam Vice-chancellor Dr  B Ananthakrishnan announced on Wednesday that both boys and girls without any discrimination will be admitted to all the courses in the institute from the upcoming academic year.  

This decision was taken at a meeting of the governing body members. Dr Kalamandalam Neena Prasad, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri, Dr Kalamandalam Latha Edavalath and A V Satish, who took over the office as the new members of the governing body on Wednesday morning, and Kalamandalam Registrar Dr V Rajesh Kumar, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Gopi, Padma Shri Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, Dr Rajananth and V Venugopalan attended the meeting. 

Earlier, Mathrubhumi DotCom had launched a campaign and debates with the tagline “Mohiniyattam Purushan Padichaal entha?'' (Why can't boys learn Mohiniyattam?). Later, news related to the topic was published in the Mathrubhumi newspaper and the channel.

As part of the campaign, Kalamandalam Kshemavathy and Kalamandalam Sugandhi,the executive members of the Kalamandalam governing body, responded that men should be provided opportunities to learn Mohiniyattam as well. 

Kalamandalam Kshemavathi mentioned that no special regulations are required and that both the males and females should be provided the opportunity to learn any art form. Like Kaladi University, admissions should be given to boys to learn Mohiniyattam at Kalamandalam University as well. She also stated that when institutions like Kalamandalam provide opportunities for boys to learn various artforms, more people will show interest in joining the stream.

As part of the campaign, Pramod Das, a Mohiniyattam dancer and judge, protested against Kalamandalam. He stated that he had to go to Bengaluru to learn Mohiniyattam because boys were not taught the artform in Kalamandalam. He also took exception to the lack of category for men in Mohiniyattam in the Youth Festival. He opined if institutions like Kalamandalam start giving admission to boys, many stereotypes could be gotten rid of, and the public's perception of these issues will change.

A similar opinion was expressed by Kalamandalam Executive member Kalamandalam Sugandi. “Shiva, the supreme lord of dance, is a male. Bharata Muni, the one who created Natya Shastra, and all his disciples were men. Wasn't Appuredath Krishna Panicker, Kalamandalam's first Mohiniyattam guru, a male?” She put forth questions based on these historical facts.