Pulling strings to keep a tradition alive

This is a one-man show. Award-winning puppeteer Puran Bhat sculpts puppets out of wood and cloth,writes his own scripts,composes music and conceptualises the show. He has performed across the country and abroad at major art festivals but he likes it best when there are children in the audience.

“Interacting with children I get new ideas on how to improvise the traditional kathputli show,” he says. Besides,he also trains children of kathputliwalas at his home in Kathputli Colony near Shadipur Bus Depot.

“Kathputli Colony is home not only to puppeteers but also to the Bhopas,Nats,Bhands and other traditional artiste communities. Nowadays,the younger generation is slowly moving away from these professions. I am trying to bring them back to what is their traditional forte. They can continue to take up new professions and simultaneously keep alive traditional art forms by adopting newer methods and stories and by making it contemporary,” says Puran.

Till he was 13,Puran performed with his father,a master puppeteer,but left to join a more lucrative occupation. “I dabbled in theatre,films,serials,paintings,and wood carving for some years. A chance meeting with renowned puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee changed all that. After watching his show,I decided to return to kathputli. In 1982,I left a Rs 3,000-per-month job at a furniture workshop to join the Shri Ram Centre in Delhi at Rs 600 per month,” he says.

Since then,he has not looked back. His work now revolves around puppets—be it traditional Rajasthani string kathputli,rod puppets,glove and shadow puppets or European-influenced puppets. “They all talk to me. Once you befriend a puppet,you don’t need another friend,” he says.

A Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2003 hasn’t,however,changed anything for him. “I continue to live and perform the way I used to,” he says.

From Rajputana folk tales to modern-day environmental concerns,Puran’s productions address a range of interests. Of all his productions,Carvan—depicting the condition of puppeteers—is perhaps closest to his heart. “It’s the story of us Bhats who are struggling to keep alive the kathputli,” he says.