POP ART OF PUPPETRY

“It is all about the magic blue, Vishnu and his celestial hue, Whenever in the world, Evil was a lot , And good was not, Vishnu who is god, Made a plot, And used in hue, To colour a chosen few”…………thus ran the jingle as the leitmotif the entire show. Inspired by the abiding Krishna mythology, Magic Blue was brought by thirteen children in the age group of 7-12 hand-in hand with seasoned puppeteers to take on the enthralled viewers through the wondrous world of men, gods and demons, in a breath-taking, interactive puppet-human spectacle.

 The tone is set by a quick-fire Dashavatar in a topsy-turvy array of vishnu’s first few incarnations with the ‘shadow’ cut-outs of fish, tortoise, boar and Narashima all peeping through the illumined, coloured screen and kids romping around in sync with the stylized images flashing in the rear. Then come Krishna and his adversarial serpent-demon Kaliya as the larger-than life composite puppets of fiery, sinewy kind in ‘black lamp’ glowing in the white-and-velvet, rather than in the conventional black hue. The demon Bakasur is a pre-historic figure made of reptilian features with monotonous pink beaks, white-foam wings and a body of hold creature comes flapping over the balcony above, or suddenly leaps from behind the stage-curtains.

The other demon Aghasur is an amalgam of frothy clouds of bubble-wrap, finally collapsing on the stage as an amorphous mass. the piece de-resistance is the ten-foot ouppet-kamsa-the humanoid demon, manipulated by four black veiled puppeteers in imitative Bunraku style- confronting a trio of highly agile, four-foot Krishnas. The gusto and bravado with which the little dancers fight all the four demons is absolutely infectious; obviously children frightfully enjoy killing demons! 

 In the words of petite Choreographer Shagun Butani, who was also the scriptwriter, “my children have all learnt Odissi for at least two years, besides seraikela Chhau and elements of modern dance. Combining even basic dance steps and gestures with large puppets and mystifying masks was a little surreal, but children now grew wonderfully into the interaction of gods, demons and men! Shyam banerji’s music, composed after the movements and choreography were all conceptualized, jelling really well, as sung by his 7 year old niece. My three senior students did the triple Krishna, weaving many choreographic patterns in the typical RASS LILA manner.”

Puppet dance known as Kandhei or Sakhi Nacha, a rare and unusual type of stylised indigenous drama and dance based on mythological stories, is being performed even today in various parts of Odisha (Formerly Orissa). The puppets are usually the representations of various characters and animals of a particular drama. It is difficult to speak anything about its origin but undoubtedly it is an old art. The making of dolls with paintings, dresses and ornaments is a typical folk art for the enjoyment of people of all categories. Together with puppets there evolved another art popularly known as the expressive shadow plays which has the added advantage of being able to cater to large audiences. The puppetry of Odisha (Formerly Orissa) may be classified into three categories, such as hand puppets, string puppets and rod puppets.