Hassan’s leather puppets take centre stage in Bengaluru

Award-winning artistes Delhi-based

Anurupa Roy

and Hassan-based

Gunduraju

’s latest play,

Mahabharata

, rekindles Karnataka’s ancient puppetry tradition. Gunduraju, a puppeteer from Hoovinahalli in Hassan district, is collaborating with

Katkatha

’s Anurupa to present a puppet show on the Mahabharata in Bengaluru this weekend.
“I have preserved leather

puppets

that are as old as 600 years,” says Gunduraju, a seventh generation puppeteer of Togalu Gombeyaata, who narrates stories from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Shiva Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavata Purana and Janapada Kathegalu through puppets across the state, apart from teaching the craft to aspirants. “These stories may not be very popular in the cities, but audiences gather in large numbers when we conduct shows in the villages of Hassan, Kodagu and Mandya. Karnataka, besides Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, has a rich and ancient legacy of puppetry, which we should keep alive,” he says.
The 75-minute performance, which is taking place at Ranga Shakara on August 24 and 25, took three years to make, says Anurupa, who has conceptualised and directed it. “Everybody has some knowledge about the epic. It is a vast subject, and it is therefore a challenge to tell the story through puppets. Thus, a lot of research and understanding has gone into bringing the play to stage,” she explains.
The play uses the traditional format of storytelling, in which a series of questions are thrown at the audience. “It’s an attempt to jostle their psychology a bit; and question their pre-conceived notions — as to who is manipulating who, and how is one getting manipulated. The puppets are used in a metaphoric manner to explain the duality of the characters. The central question, however, is what could have averted the apocalyptic Mahabharata war?”
The makers of the play believe that the story is increasingly relevant in today’s conflict-ridden world. It looks at the Mahabharata as a dynamic narrative that has evolved through the sung verses of Togalu Gombeyaata’s Sillakeyata Mahabharata, which remains significant for contemporary puppeteers. The performers include Vivek Kumar, Mohammad Shameem and Avinash Kumar, along with Anurupa and Gunduraju. The background score is by Suchet Malhotra and light design is by Milind Shrivastav. Apart from the leather-shadow puppets, there is also generous use of masks in the play.
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