How can we save the art of puppetry in India ??
Answers
Answer:
puppeteer has a rare talent of engaging his/her audience by putting life into an inanimate object by pulling the strings and weaving a story around it. The journey of the story is complete only when the viewers meet the puppeteer halfway and put their emotions into the vessel, in this case, the puppet. No one knows this better than Dadi Pudumjee, one of India’s leading puppeteers. He is in Mumbai to present his show, Where Has My Nani Gone? Bombay Times caught up with him to find out more about the art form and its survival in today's times. Excerpts...
This puppet show is based on a popular children’s book, Gone Grandmother. What are the challenges you faced while trying to adapt a book to puppetry?
There are two things involved when you adapt something, one, is the language or the way the book is constructed, and the other, is the performance piece in it. While adapting, you have to keep the essence of the story, take what is possible from it and put it through your medium, which is in my case are my puppets.
What are the types of puppets that you work withWe work with puppets that are 12 to 13-feet high, glove puppets, string or shadow puppets and rod puppets among others. We even work with projections, music and theatre.
The general impression is that kids are more drawn to puppetry as a form of art. Is it difficult to engage an adult audience?
This perception dates back to the East Block period (1947-1991), when there were state-sponsored theatres that also travelled to India. These were mostly performances for children and that’s how puppetry got that stamp. However, puppetry in South East Asia has always been for families, which comprises of adults as well. Puppetry has also been used to highlight and create awareness of sensitive issues like HIV, etc. And these shows mostly target the adults. Also in India, the word Sutradhar (the narrator), which is synonymous with theatre, actually comes from the Sanskrit word, sutra that translates as cotton or thread. And the narrator plays the role of guiding or holding the thread of the story that is not just for children, but also families.You have performed across the globe. Is there something that they do differently from the puppeteers in India?
Puppetry abroad is high on production quality and value. Having said that, the traditional technique of India is strong and has a social context vis-à-vis modern puppeteers, who have the freedom to adapt different styles to say what they want to say. Through my work abroad, one of the things that I was introduced to was visible puppetry — where the audience can see the puppeteer manoeuvring the puppets. This form has also filtered down to many puppeteers here.
What do you think is the need of the hour when it comes to boosting the art form in India?
We need to break through this glass ceiling that puppetry is only for kids. As an art form, it is also being used to create social awareness. We need to create spaces for both traditional and modern puppeteers, hold discussions and workshops. We don’t have puppetry schools here, but we do have mentorship programs. If young people are made aware of these platforms for puppetry, I believe that they will be drawn to it in large numbers.
Having put in so many years in this art form, what does the word, ‘puppetry’ mean to you at this stage of your life?
It’s a moment when the puppeteer and the audience come together and put their emotions into a vessel, where the medium is the puppet. The puppeteer takes two steps to create something and the audience takes two steps an