Modern Puppetry
In the context of ancient and rich puppet tradition in India, the situation in modem puppetry is most depressing. In Delhi, there is practically not a single active puppet group.
The first phase of the evolution of modern puppetry in the early 50s was part of the cultural and artistic resurgence of the post-independence era. A few groups sprang up in big cities like Delhi, Calcutta, and Bombay.
Along with the individual puppeteers and puppet groups, some institutions involved in the promotion of the arts also encouraged puppetry.
Most of the work was done in Kathputli, the string puppets of Rajasthan, which have new themes and involved traditional puppeteers.
Finding new opportunity of work, some fifty families of puppeteers from Rajasthan had migrated to Delhi and settled on the outskirts of the city. They are still there and demanding rehabilitation.
In Delhi, Bharatiya Natya Sangh (Indian Centre of International Theatre, UNESCO) took initiative under the inspiration of the late Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya, who remained a great promoter of traditional arts and crafts all her life.
A few plays were done with new themes in Rajasthani string puppets (Kathputli) involving traditional puppeteers and under the guidance of Inder Razdan, a scholar of traditional theatre crafts.
With financial support to the Natya Sangh from the government, Razdan also made a large collection of puppets, masks, headgears, costume and other items of theatre crafts which are displayed in a crafts museum in New Delhi.
Bharatiya Kala Kendra, another cultural institution devoted to the training in music and dance, took interest in puppetry and some plays were produced under its auspices in Kathputli style.
During this period most serious work was done by the late Devilal Samar in Kathputli at Udaipur with his institution called Lok Kala Mandal.
He maintained a troupe and participated in several international puppet festivals.
He organized two national puppet festivals in the sixties. His institution maintains a museum displaying puppets, masks, musical instruments, costume and other items of theatre crafts.
Influenced by European modern puppet traditions, he introduced new themes and experimented in making puppets in new designs. Suresh Awasthi, Performance Tradition In India, Page No: 50
What is Bharatiya Natya Sangh?
