Kathakali maestro Guru Govindan Kutty died at Thakurpukur cancer hospital in Kolkata early on Friday.

The 80-year-old artist, who was suffering from lung cancer, had been admitted to the hospital ten days back.

He is survived by his wife Thankamani Kutty,a renowned Kathakali dancer, and three sons.

A recipient of Uday Shankar lifetime achievement award and a special award of Kerala Sangeet Nritya Academy, Kutty was born in Kerala but had made Kolkata his home since last five decades.

He was running Kala Mandalam, a famous dance institute in the city and was also a professor of Rabindra Bharati University, apart from working as guest faculty at Frankfurt University, sources said.

He had also toured different places across the globe to stage his programmes and won huge high accolades of the audience.

Kutty's body, which was kept at Rabindra Sadan for a while to enable his admirers to pay last respect to this great artist, was later brought to Kala Mandalam.

According to his last wishes, his body would be handed over to the Medical College and Hospital authorities for medical studies.