Artist Gurukulam Babu sculpts prominent leaders leaders in unique style

Artist Gurukulam Babu creates unique statues of prominent personalities, making art accessible to all, with over 20 years of experience.

Artist Gurukulam Babu’s makeshift studio at Kottooli in Kozhikode is a storehouse of imagination.

A sculptor with over twenty years of experience, Mr. Babu’s latest works are unique in many ways. For example, you find Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, in a sitting position holding his book The Discovery of India at Mr. Babu’s studio. The statue of Mahatma Gandhi too is one of a kind, with the Father of the Nation reading Young India, one of the newspapers he published.

“It was a challenge to come up with these particular postures. The photographs of the two were not enough. So I tried the poses myself and worked on it,” Mr. Babu said.

The Gandhi and Nehru statues are to be placed at the entrance of the District Congress Committee (DCC) office which is under construction in Kozhikode. He is also sculpting the busts of former Chief Ministers K. Karunakaran and Oommen Chandy for the DCC office.

The bust of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader M.N. Govindan Nair will be placed in front of MN Memorial, the CPI Kerala State Council Office in Thiruvananthapuram, which is undergoing renovation. A bust of Indira Gandhi is also being given the final touches at the studio, made on a special order from Vadakara MP Shafi Parambil, to be set up at Orkkatteri.

Artist Gurukulam Babu, a former art teacher, has so far created more than forty statues of prominent personalities, some in full size and some in busts, and has set them up in different parts of the State. He started his career with the statue of Guru Varananada Swami that has been set up at Kolathur HSS. He has also done a statue of Herman Gundert, besides national and State leaders. “Gandhi statues are the most sought after. I have made at least 16 of them,” Mr. Babu said. He is also known for the statue ‘Mother and Child’ set up at the Government Hospital for Women and Children at Kottaparamba in the city recently.

A winner of Dharmikatha Award in 2015 and Malayala Samskrithi Award in 2016, most of Mr. Babu’s statues are made of concrete, as it is the most viable medium. However, he also works on fibre and metal. He is also known for the sand sculptures he created on beaches across the State on various occasions.