Award-winning puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee tells Karan Bhardwaj that government must step in to improve training and skills to save the art form
In an age where online media is redefining modes of entertainment, the sustenance of performing arts looks heartwarming. In its 13th edition, the Ishara International Puppet Theatre Festival is hosting country’s leading puppeteers as well as their counterparts from abroad. Its director Dadi Pudumjee, also the founder of the Trust behind the festival, says puppetry has survived down the years and like any other branch of performing arts, it has managed to create its own audience while retaining the old ones. “look at the literary gatherings, kids’ festival or dance concerts, you have patrons for every kind of art. If you do it in right way and build a solid platform, you get the right audience,” he says.
Critics might have written off puppetry long ago but Pudumjee is hopeful about the reinvention of the storytelling format. “In traditional style, puppeteers have their own family traditions and unique ways of presenting a story. Even they are reinventing their storytelling.
They say stories from their own areas. The artistic development has also happened. However, a lot depends on the director and the performing group. In modern puppetry, we have fantastic performers from Iran and Portugal this time,” he tells us. Having said that many believe that the traditional groups need to improve their quality of production, puppet manipulations and presentations. The ones who have managed to do so have succeeded. “Traditional puppetry is more region-oriented. Its base, social surroundings and language are important factors. Television needs to make better use of these puppet groups in our states. The art hasn’t died, the audience has changed,” says Pudumjee
One of the major issues that haunts puppetry in India today is the lack of state support and infrastructure. Corporate backing is also dull as there’s no effort to reform skills. “The government needs to do far more. The cultural ministry must have training programmes and workshops. We need to put professionals from India as well as abroad together to nurture the puppeteers. It’s important to take puppetry to schools. At least, the government must introduce it in municipality schools,” he says.
The festival this year has both modern and traditional forms, ranging from rod, string and shadow puppets to mixed performances with dance, theatre and music. Celebrated educational puppeteer Carol Sterling will also be doing workshops for puppetry in education as a part of the festival at various schools.
The ticketed festival, according to Pudumjee, survives on the support from the audience as well as small contributions from ICCR. “Rest, the Trust takes care of it. But it’s quite successful so far. The size of the audience has increased every year,” says Pudumjee.
What distinguishes India, supposedly the origin of puppetry, from the rest of the worldIJ “In India, we have more traditional puppet theatre. The contemporary theatre is more in urban centres. It all depends on artistes and directors who are creating new problems. India is supposed to be the birthplace of puppetry and we have got very good styles of puppetry. It has exported various forms of puppetry to the world. Rajasthani puppetry is big in Iran and Central Asia,” he says.