Indian Puppets

Theater

In 2014, when I was in 10th standard, my Geography teacher (Mrs. Ranjana Mukherjee) introduced me to puppet making and asked me to join the puppet show with students for our Annual Cultural meet of A.K Ghosh Memorial School. I was immediately drawn to the lucrative behaviour of the puppets and was amazed by how they perform and tell a story with a soundtracks.

It was then I started making puppets under her guidance and I slowly learned the art of puppet making. Her father was a puppeteer and seeing the spark within me, she introduced me to her father. They both took me to several puppet shows, to learn and perform with them.

Benir Putul of Bengal

He is my first puppet named Joker

My second puppet, Rukmini, a bengali girl

Danger Putul of Bengal

She is a stick puppet named Pinki

Pavakathakali of Kerala

Sushila, a Kathakali dancer

Sakhi Kundhei of Odisha

Jamila, a tribal girl

All the puppet heads are made using plastic balls. In Danger Putul, the structure was made using trash PVC pipes and I dressed them using my sister’s childhood clothes. The structure of the glove puppets was made by sewing old clothes according to puppeteer's hand size and the hands and neck of these puppets are made using cardboard. The hairs were made using black wool.

Kathputli of Rajasthan

Male puppet

Female puppet

String puppet from Rajasthan, gifted by my teacher

Let's visit a show

A woodcutter cuts the trees in the forest and explains his tough life and poverty through rhyming dialogs when a children stops him and tells him what the trees have to offer to the ecosystem. Listening to her, the woodcutter realized how rich and happy he is with all the trees around him and promised to find a different occupation and not to cut trees again.