Puppetry Lives

What sets this space apart is the laughter and chatter of 35-odd school children. She has been encouraging children,who she says are full of creativity and imagination,to make puppets and learn puppetry. On the floor of a hall at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal School in Worli,the children can be see happily making puppets,drawing inspiration from their role models or relying entirely on their imagination.

Despite being a known name owing to her theatre background,she finds it difficult to convince parents. “Parents are often skeptical of sending children to learn puppetry. Once they see their children performing and having a good time,they automatically become supportive. The wonderful part is,children don’t really need to be taught. They all have creativity,imagination and talent. This is only a medium for them to express it,” Naik says.

For over 20 years now,Naik has been using puppetry to interact with and teach children,besides using it as a tool to spread social messages.

The JJ School of Arts graduate recalls how she had taken up this art form after her theatre dream was cut short.

“Senior theatre colleagues urged me to take up puppetry as a career option. As a child,I would watch puppet skits performed by European artists which remained an inspiration. The big,lifelike replicas attracted me more than the traditional figures on stick usually is associated with puppetry in India,” Naik says.

Armed with a fine arts degree and further training in puppetry in India as well as abroad,Naik soon started performing puppet shows based mostly on traditional stories like those from the Panchatantra or snippets from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

Following a tremendous response from children’s theatre,Naik started using ‘puppet therapy’ to focus on social issues.

“In one session,I was interacting with children. I saw that many of them were reclusive and didn’t want to engage in games with the other kids. I decided to give these children puppets and asked them to create skits based on their family lives. Many of the skits reflected problems these children faced such as alcoholism and abuse at home that had made them asocial,” Naik says.

She uses puppetry to spread awareness on AIDS,child trafficking and environmental issues. In 2010,Naik’s puppet show Bhim and Hanuman premiered at the Festival of India in France.

Into her forties,Naik has her hands full conducting puppetry classes for children of BMC schools,and preparing material for a certificate course at the Mumbai University scheduled to start the next academic year.

“The traditional form of theatre is slowly dying. I hope this course draws the interest of people and leads to revival of this wonderful art,” she says.