All strings attached

In Karjat taluka,Raigarh district,a group of villagers sit in rapt attention,listening to the repartee of beautiful Shaniwari and her drunk husband,Radkya. It’s almost 7pm,but the village crowd has gathered to see a puppet show. The indifferent Radkya is sternly heckled by the witty Shaniwari. The audience is left laughing and nodding,for Shaniwari’s cause is one that everyone relates to. Behind the scenes,strings are pulled up and a seemingly lifeless Radkya disappears. The puppet’s is a short life,but the confidence of Shaniwari is felt by the women folk around too. Some lessons in life need a cloak of humour and wit,and Ranjana Kanitkar lives by that argument. A puppet artist for the past 29 years,Kanitkar’s love for the art transcends the creative and becomes a tool for social awakening.

At her residence in Gokul Nagar,Kothrud,Kanitkar presents a puppet she completed making a day before. “I learnt how to make puppets from my late husband,Hemant Kanitkar. He had a gift for puppetry that he had inherited from his father,who had learnt the art during the mid-70s and started conducting workshops in schools. Hemant had later studied at the National School of Drama under the tutelage of renowned theatre personalities like Ebrahim Alkazi and started using the art from for social awareness.” It was around this time that Ranjana,also involved in social causes,met Hemant. “We got married and decided to set up the People’s Universal Popular Puppetry Educational Theatre (PUPPET) as a forum to explore the relationship between this folk medium and social issues,” says Ranjana.

The story of PUPPET has since then been an interesting one. In a bid to create social awareness the couple travelled across the country,training NGO volunteers in all the facets of the art of puppetry. “It is important to connect to your audience. So we thought it a good way to teach puppetry to NGOs in specific regions,who could then take the art forward,” says Kanitkar. From telling villagers about the fallout of bonded labour or child marriage,the NGO uses tongue- in- cheek humour and drama to address any issue.

But Kanitkar’s work through PUPPET has spread to other avenues too. She has also been conducting teacher training sessions in schools,educating teachers to use this as an interactive learning tool. “You know,puppetry involves seven fine arts – drawing,painting,drama,literature,music,dance and stitching. Getting involved in it means ensuring a lot of mental stimulation. There have been conferences and talks organised,where puppeteers come and discuss how to save the art. But it does not move beyond that. We need to teach it to others,” says Ranjana.

Ranjana’s mission has a wide radar – the poorest of villagers to academicians are now benefiting from the skill and she has no plans to slow down. “Next I am planning to set up Pune’s first Puppet Research Centre,which would help in sustaining the art. The only deterrent now is the funding.”