Maverick is what best describes Anupama Hoskere, the master puppeteer. Full of verve and confidence, her puppets exude credence and charm in equal measure. Of course, they are wooden, but no critic can pan their performance. A post-graduate in engineering from Cal State University, US, Hoskere is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and skilled in traditional puppetry of Karnataka and in Marionette Construction and Design from the Czech Republic. Wedded to the cause of preserving and popularising puppetry in India, Hoskere co-founded Dhaatu, a cultural organisation based in Bengaluru. Today Dhaatu boasts of 20 full-length productions, puppet gallery, and store, Dhaatu puppet paathashala, well appreciated and attended festivals like Dhaatu Navaratra Mahotsava (24th year) and Dhaatu International Puppet Festival (11th year).
Conferred with the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2018 recently, the recognition has further strengthened Hoskere’s resolve to bring Indian puppetry back to its full glory and open it up to all those who want to learn. She is currently on a 20-city tour of the US, with her latest production Mahakavi Kalidasa's “Malavikagnimitram”, with dancer Divya Hoskere as Malavika and the rest of the 20 characters as puppets.
Here the artist talks about the history of puppetry and her craft.
Edited excerpts:
Anupama Hoskere at
How will you describe puppetry?
Puppetry is all about storytelling. It engages the audiences, keeps them spellbound and takes them into a world of fantasy and dreams. When well done, it can be the most entertaining fête. The beauty of this theatre is that it’s for all ages. Prior knowledge of the art form is not required for one to enjoy the story. The puppets have no ego.
When the audience spend time with us, this is a promise to them. They get entertained. We offer a lot – mythology, history, philosophy, lifestyle, ethics, sustainability and much more. When well done, the puppet theatre excels in sharing stories of mythology, history and everything else. The impact is so high that people remember it forever.
Pandavas and Krishna from the puppet production “Rajasuya Yaga”
India has a long history of puppetry…
There is a verse in the Bhagavata, in the “Rukmini Parinaya”, which talks about the wooden dolls played by the entertainer. It states just as a puppet which moves when the puppeteer pulls its strings, we are puppets in the hands of the Lord. Historically, we have mention of the Paanchaala anuyaana, the marriage of puppets in the works of Kavi Vatsysyana. We also find in Kashmiri poet Somadeva's “Kathasaritsaagara”, mention of character Swayamprabha’s mechanical puppets. Poet Rajashekara (10th Century) talks about Yantra putrikas – mechanical puppets in his work Bala Ramayana. This establishes the antiquity and the sophistication of puppets of India.
Share with us the creative process of puppetry
I am generally with a story till I can understand the perspective of the author completely and can crack the code as I call it. Once I get to this point, it gives me a flow of rasas which is the mainstay in my work. Next, I decide on the characters. How they should look and move, be special and unique? What would they communicate with my audience? Once the purpose is defined, the features and joints for movement are designed.
I use a combination of wood. Usually, I have a stock of the Buruga (silk cottonwood – Shalmalee Vruksha) which I use to make the face. I like to have large faces with large eyes which can express better. The body and joints are made out of a slightly denser wood like local aale, neem and another local wood called honge.
The carving of the face includes the main sentiment of the character into its features. The hastas of the puppets are also used to denote the main purpose of the character, like a hamsasya for a dancer, mushti for a warrior, alapadma for a celestial being, the tripataka for the Gods and more.
The scene definitions and scripting get done in parallel. The need for lyrics gets defined at this process. Then comes music, which is based on the suggestions of the lyricist.
I love to paint costume and ornament my puppets and have a whole sartorial section with a choice of fabrics, trims, jewel bits and another jewellery section. All main characters get customised jewellery made with wooden pieces foiled with gold and ornate with pieces of glass and gems. I have great pride in the design of the golden stepped braid and head ornamentation of my female characters.
What attracted you to puppetry?
I knew my academic success had come because of practising and living the principled life of honesty and working hard and being passionate. I wondered how I could pass this to the next generation. I believe our success in the world today is only because of these value systems. I felt a calling to offer the roots to the next generation which would spell their success. Puppetry became a powerful medium to tell these stories about Bharata. I slipped into this, fell head over heels in love with the art form and then my engineering skills were dedicated to design, construct and do control systems for the puppets.
Can puppetry help in raising awareness about contemporary issues?
Performing art of India is larger than life. It is surreal and stylised. Hence it has the power to make the audience become observers and get a perspective. As I said earlier, puppets have no ego. We can communicate a lot. There are two approaches to any problem – the direct which fades away and becomes irrelevant with time or the systemic solution which is universal in nature and timeless. My approach and investment in art production would be the latter. For example, we have a story from the Mahabharat which talks about single-parent mother and a special child – grandfather Uddalaka (of Chandogya Upanishad fame) gives direction on how society should care for such a child. This to me is a contemporary issue but the presentation is classical.
We do work on these issues which will last as long as the humans are there. The approach is from the perspective of the mind and the human race – not restricted to time or geography.
How do you see puppetry in India today?
The art form is on the rise. One has to offer good puppetry to be accepted by the people. The tough part is that puppetry costs money to create and it cannot handle huge numbers at a time. Getting back investments and to survive is a challenge. Creating dedicated puppet theatres and giving some incentives to practising puppeteers might help. The bottom line is we have to get an economic model by which puppeteers can be paid good salaries. Once the economy comes, good talent and brains follow. It would help if the art form can be introduced in schools respecting the local culture, local language, local form, and local content.
We have seen in the past disastrous effects on the art form when puppetry in schools was to meet a social agenda. I find puppeteers in small towns of our country who are still offering these shows with no takers. Times have changed, these issues are irrelevant today, but the puppeteer has been diverted from the classical roots and left high and dry in the middle of a lonely path.
So if at all schools offer puppetry, it has to be for the sake of the art form and nothing else. We must remember it is the artists who finally make or break the art. The system is but just a boost.
How can puppetry be made attractive for the millennials?
I believe one must be true to one’s art form. Creativity, costumes, props, and music are the life and core of any good performance. Anything of substance and quality has a following and will be appreciated. It is good to always improve upon oneself, incorporate the best of the world and practice till you own your work. Our performing arts even though deeply rooted in the Natyashastra, are continuously changing and redefining the presentation. India has in its puppet systems, an exquisite balance of form and content. When well presented, it appeals to all ages and is not bound by time, language or geography. This was my experience in Europe when I taught classes in Nice, Paris, and Belgium. When our art is universal and timeless why restrict it to one period. The theatre we perform is classical puppetry.
A scene from “Dharmavyadha” - a story from the Mahabharat
Different forms of Indian puppetry
Bombeyatta, Karnataka and Kasaragod, Kerala : The puppet show, using string and rod puppets, is a parallel tradition of Yakshagana, the classical dance-drama. The puppets, usually made of wood, resemble the Yakshagana performers in costumes and ornamentation.
Bommalata, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: This shadow puppet theatre has various entertainers perform all night, usually re-enacting various stories from Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Pavakoothu, Kerala: This traditional glove puppet play came into existence due to the influence of Kathakali on puppet performances. The face of the puppets is decorated with paints, small and thin pieces of gilded tin, the feathers of the peacock, etc.
Bommalattam, Tamil Nadu: These puppets combine the techniques of both rod and string puppets. They are made of wood and the strings for manipulation are tied to an iron ring which the puppeteer wears like a crown on his head. A few puppets have jointed arms and hands, which are manipulated by rods.
Kundhei, Orissa: The string puppets are made of light wood have no legs but wear long flowing skirts. They have more joints and are, therefore, more versatile, articulate and easy to manipulate. The costumes resemble those worn by actors of the Jatra traditional theatre.
Ravana Chhaya, Orissa: In this form, the puppets are in one piece and have no joints. They are not coloured, hence throw opaque shadows on the screen. The manipulation requires great dexterity, since there are no joints. Apart from human and animal characters, many props such as trees, mountains, chariots, etc. are also used.
Putul Nach, West Bengal: In this traditional rod puppet form, the puppets are carved from wood and follow the various artistic styles of a particular region. These puppets have mostly three joints. The head, supported by the main rod, is joined at the neck and both hands attached to rods are joined at the shoulders.
Khatputli, Rajasthan: These traditional marionettes are carved from a single piece of wood and are like large dolls that are colourfully dressed. Their costumes and headgears are designed in the medieval Rajasthani style of dress. Oval faces, large eyes, arched eyebrows and large lips are some of the distinct facial features of these string puppets.
