Strings Attached

And it didn’t take too much and too long to get the little ones glued to the life and times of Gandhi. Wide-eyed,they gazed at the variety of puppets that danced around to tell them the story of Gandhi — how he questions his mother about untouchables and in the years to follow,goes on to lead the independence struggle. “We need to create more absorbing ways to reach out to children and share our history and culture with them. Puppetry is a great medium for this,for it is live and interactive,” says Pramod Sharma,of Yuvasatta,an NGO,who brought this team of puppeteers to town. He adds that puppetry is a dying art form and these shows are a means to preserve our folk arts. The group has performed more than 1,000 shows of Mohan Se Mahatma all over the country and is in the city for a week to share this story with students of various schools.

The sets,music and puppets— some of them life-size,were equally riveting,“To share the most important era of our history with children,we depict the prominent people in Gandhi’s life,who were involved in the independence struggle,” says Singh who adds that they have made as many as 80 puppets for Mohan Se Mahatma . Having done extensive research on Gandhi’s life,Dubey has written the script of the show and has focused on many unknown facets,especially his childhood.

A few years back,the team held an exhibition of Gandhi’s books outside a movie-hall showing the Sanjay Dutt starrer Lagey Raho Munna Bhai and sold an year’s stock in just a week,“You have to move with the times and make Gandhigiri a hit,” smiles Dubey.

The group also used Gandhi’s original voice in the show to create a unique effect. It is now working on new shows that will bring out Gandhi’s relationship with children and also one on stories related to the Mahatma.