Famous Puppeteers in India

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  1. Suresh Dutta

Suresh Dutta is an Indian puppet artist, theatre personality and the founder of Calcutta Puppet Theatre, a Kolkata-based theatre group dedicated to puppetry. Born in 1934, Faridpur,in undivided Bengal of the British India. He took a diploma in dance, drama and music,and received training in fine arts from the Albert League Temple Art School and College. Dutta also trained himself under Phani Bhushan, a Jatra exponent, and Kathakali under Balakrishna Menon. He also learnt Bharatanatyam and Manipuri,this stood in him in good stead in his parala puppeteer at the Children’s Little Theatre,Calcutta in1954 and produce several shows with marionettes, of which Mithuya in 1955 and Dustu Indur i.e. ‘Naughty Mouse’ in 1956 became immensely popular. Then he moved to Russia, under a scholarship in 1962, to train in puppetry master, Sergei Obraztsov. After returning he continuedwith the Children’s Little Theatre till1971. In 1973, he founded his own puppet theatre group, Calcutta Puppet Theatre, along with his wife Devi, and few like-minded artists. The staged several shows ,beginning with the Alladin,followed by Ramayana , Sita, Gulabo aur Sitabo and natun Jeebon,totaling over 3000 shows. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1978. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri,in 2009,for his contribution to Puppetry.

2.Ranganath Rao
Mr. Rangatha Rao was a pioneering artist of Kannada puppetry. Ranganath Rao was born in 1932. He learnt the traditional art from his grandfather, Narasingha Rao, a professional puppeteer. He took up an employment as a school teacher. Later he quit his government teaching job to take up puppetry as a full time profession. Backed by an academic background in drama and theatre and it was natural for Ranganatha Rao to use puppets as a medium of expression to teach children in school, especially in schools of rural Karnataka. Rao specialises in rod puppetry. The rod puppet is the most difficult to manipulate because they are one of the largest puppets measuring three feet tall and weighing about 15 kilos. The entire movement is controlled by two thin rods attached to the two hands of the puppet. The artist also wears a circular ring on his head to make flexible manipulations to make life-like movements of the puppet’s head and body. Not only that, the feet movements have to be fluid, mingling with the characters of the story. Rao has built an expert team of performers and singers to make a wholesome mini theatre of rod puppets bound in the ethos of traditional folk music and culture. Rao and his troupe toured around the country conducting shows, lecture demonstrations and workshops to prove that the rod puppet could be a wonderful medium of entertainment and education. In recognition of his work and contribution to rebuild the art form, the Sangeet Natak Academy conferred Rao with a national award in 1981. Rao’s puppets are displayed in prominent museums around the world including the Victoria Albert Museum (UK), Swiss Puppet Museum (Fribourg, Switzerland), Tokyo Puppet Museum (Japan) and China Puppet Musem (Beijing). The Karnataka State Rajyotsva Award for 2016 and the Kamala Award from the Crafts Council of India this year speak volumes about his contribution to the field of puppetry.


3.Dadi Pudumjee
Born in 15 September 1951, Dadi Pudumjee is a leading puppeteer in India and he is the founder of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992. He is the president of Union Internationale de la Marionnette that is International Puppetry Association. His university education was in Pune later at the NID National Institute of Design and Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad under late Meher Contractor after which he went to the Marionette Theatre Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and studied puppetry under Michael Meschke. Pudumjee's puppetry is not restricted to the more common versions of string and hand-puppets. He has also used semi-sculptural puppets that are attached to actors' bodies and carried across stage. An accomplished artist in the rare skill of puppetry, Dadi Pudumjee is single handedly responsible for introducing Indian puppet theatre to the world. With the intent to provide art that can change lives of society, he ran a successful program on HIV awareness and substance abuse in partnership with UNESCO by medium puppetry for communication. With his foundation, Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust, he wishes to strengthen the art, support and develop the traditional puppetry of India and broaden the aspect and use of puppetry as form of expression.
  
4. Ramdas Pandhye
Ramdas Pandhye is an Indian Ventriloquist, puppeteer and puppet-maker. In past four decades or so, he has conducted around 9000 ventriloquism and puppet shows India and abroad. His shows are regularly appear in Doordarshan since1972 and he has also developed first Indian websites on ventriloquism and puppetry. He was Indian ventriloquist to perform ventriloquism and puppet based shows on NBC,ABC and CBS television in America, and BBC’s channel four. His puppets ‘Ardhavatrao’ and ‘Awadabai’ were very popular during1970’s. He made many puppets on social relevant subjects like Family planning, Small Savings, Child Education etc.

Location: Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Comments

  1. Amiya23 October 2019 at 19:00

    Want to organise a Puppet Show in Patna on a socially relevant subject. Kindly get in touch.
    artandworks@gmail.com
    Ph: 9334203557
    06122540376

    ReplyDelete

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