Vinod C Dixit
You must have probably familiar with puppets and if you’re like most people, you must have probably seen a puppeteer in action and may have even played with a puppet yourself. Every year 21 st March is celebrated as World Puppetry Day to recognize puppetry as a global art form. Puppetry is considered to be one of the oldest forms of storytelling in the country. Puppetry is a real challenge to the imagination of the individual and is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. Puppetry is a beautiful and colourful art. It is so sad to see that puppeteers are slowly fading away.
Puppetry is an animated visual art form. Kathputli that means a puppet which is made from wood. Whereas the words kath means 'wood' and putli means 'a doll or toy'. The craft of making Kathputli, was practiced by a community of performing artists. The puppeteer uses his or her skills to makes the puppet, an inanimate object, talk, sing, dance and behave the way humans do.
Most of the puppeteers around the country and even in Gujarat are of the opinion that that the competition from cinema and TV had hit them hard. As one puppeteer from Ahmedabad Ramesh Rawal 72 Year old an Indian folk and Puppet Artist says “Television, especially, has given us a big blow”. Rawal a puppet artist from Ahmedabad, Gujarat who has participated in various International Puppet festivals in Afghanistan, Tehran, Iran, Rome, Italy, Japan and in various places of India, is striving very hard to keep the culture of puppet shows active but he is helpless as he is not getting any support from concerned authorities. The Puppetry has been his family profession since many generations. Over a period of time, the colourful art started fading away and the artists like Rawal started struggling to get any work opportunities. The prospects of making good money from doing puppetry shows are quite minimal now-a-days. Modern day entertainment options like television, movies and the internet are pushing traditional puppetry towards a slow death. In order to keep the culture and heritage of our nation alive with more charisma, we need to keep Educational Puppet shows in schools in such a way the students can easily grasp a certain topic. Puppeteers through cultural exchange can learn new techniques and apply in their performance. Schoolchildren are often attracted by puppets and interact strongly with them as they help them to overcome shyness and stage fear. Puppet shows have powerful visual impact and establish direct rapport with the audience. It can be tailored to promote civic sense, promote awareness of socio-economic problems and national issues.
The concerned officials and politicians must make puppet shows an integral part of cultural functions and festivals in villages, towns and cities. On a personal level, wealthy patrons can also arrange for puppet shows during their celebrations. Puppet shows are one of the notable marvels in the lap of the heritage of India. It is quite essential to maintain the trade of ancient artworks. . Due to the lack of patronization of government and lack of audience interest, most of the people engaged in puppetry quit from it and are involved in other lucrative source of Income but all cannot afford.
Poor puppeteers like Ramesh Rawal are not able to introduce modern techniques in their performance due to Lack of sponsors. Further, many of the puppeteers of old puppet troupes are not adequately literate. Most of the traditional Puppeteers are not willing to teach puppetry to their children as they do not want to see their children in problem, as puppetry cannot provide adequate money to live life. Schools can arrange for puppet shows on different themes from which the children can learn new things. Teenagers can easily search valuable information, which is not in their textbooks, in a novel way. Puppets provide a way of holding children’s attention and in a way helps in behaviour change.
The families of puppeteers like Ramesh Rawal see a new hope to revive the lost art of puppetry to help them earn a little more than what they usually get. Let us understand that Puppets are a different mode of communication. Besides entertainment, these dolls convey social message to everybody, irrespective of age groups. It is clear that Puppetry is one of the arts facing extinction. Government must think over for a permanent source of income to provide them livelihood on a regular basis, Let us make efforts to breathe life into it by introducing it to school students and also in financial literacy. It will be worthwhile for the government to look into the neglected art form and evolve schemes for its revival in a big way. Let us make an effort to bring back this art form viz puppeteer back in action.
—The Hawk Features