Puttur Shridhara Bhandari

An eminent Yaksagana artist need your help

Puttur Shridhara Bhandari (Born 1945, October), a celebrated Yakshagana artiste, admired by all for his unparalleled ‘Pundu Vesha’ (Young Character),  is now suffering from knee injury. He has undergone knee operation and his doctor at Mangalore, Dr. Shantarama Shetty replaced his knee a few weeks ago.

 Shridhara Bhandari (66) recently collapsed on stage while performing dheengina, which is a vigorously jumping and turning mid-air in pundu vesha performance.  The man who danced and ruled the Yakshagana theater continuously for more than 55 years is now in bed and finding hard to move. With these, an era of Pundu vesha is in the verge of its end.  

Born at Bannur in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada, Mr. Bhandari started performing Yakshagana from the age of 12. Initially,  he was in the Ballambetta Mela and then joined the renowned Shri Dharmasthala Mela where he performed for 45 years. In between,  he managed Kanteshawara Mela and Puttur Mela for 11 years. All these years Mr. Bhanadari was doing the ‘pundu vesha’- the youthful characters such as Abhimanyu, Krishna, Sudhanva, Parashurama, Vrushaketu, Lava-Kusha, etc. Over the years, his name has become synonymous with the character of Abhimanyu, which is one of his favorites. The audience at National Theater, Tokyo applauded his wonderful performance with standing ovation during his tour to Japan (1992). 

Admirers of him are planning to help this ailing, talented and celebrated Yakshagana artist by raising a fund to facilitate his medical expenditure. It is requested to contribute generously.

Your generous contributions to Shridhara Bandari will be worth its value if it can bring smile on the face of a great artiste of our time.

Bank Cheque /Demand Draft may be drawn in the name of ‘Shridhara Bhandari’ payable at Puttur and may be posted to 
Putturu Shridhara Bhandari
Yakshagana Artist
Bannur House
Post Bannuru
Puttur Taluk
Dakshina Kannada District Karnataka

Vasantha Shetty Bellare                                                Dr. Purushottama Bilimale 

Dehali Mitra                                                                 6098/8, Sector D, Pocket-6,

Vasantkunj, New Delhi-110070

                                                                                    9811733378