Deccan Herald, Friday, October 10,
2003A puppet saga
Balakrishna Hosangadi
profiles a group in Kasargod that is taking
Yakshagana Bombeyata to new horizons
Yakshagana Bombeyata to new horizons
As darkness descends, the curtain
raises to the sound of the chende-maddale. And as the bhagavatha (the singer in
Yakshagana art form) begins to sing, devotees appear on the stage to offer
prayers to Lord Ganesha.
The devotees sing and dance as their masters behind the scene direct them. Yes, these artistes on the stage are puppets, who act on the bid of their operators, the real artistes backstage.
Yakshagana Bombeyata, as this art form is called, is a rarity these days. But among the few who are keeping the art form alive and taking it to new horizons is the group Gopalkrishna Yakshagana Bombeyata Sangha.
Their puppet show saga began two decades ago. A BSc graduate and owner of a printing press, K V Ramesh is the brain behind this group. He has mastered the art of carving and chiseling puppets from wood, and decking them up with vibrant colours and rich costumes. “Making puppets involves a week-long process,” he explains. Ramesh has designed and developed ‘rod’ puppets, which are controlled and monitored with rods instead of strings.
The group comprises both professionals and students. During the day they attend college or work in their respective fields like printing press, teaching and so on. And at night they gather together to infuse life into the puppets. Their performance adheres to the Tenkutittu style of Yakshagana and they perform in three languages -- Kannada, Tulu and Malayalam.
“Late Kallakatta Laxmin-arayanayya and late K Venkata-krishnayya had strived a lot to popularise Yakshagana Bomb-eyata. Now, we have more than a lakh worth puppets with us. We had our first performance in 1981. The very next year we got an opportunity to stage our show in Thiruvananthapuram’s Raj Bhavan. Scholars from Denmark watched our performance in 1987 and were very impressed,’’ describes A Sreenath, a professor by profession and one of the troupe members.
Others in the group are Om Prakash K V Sudarshana, Santhosh K, Kumaraswamy, and Amita. The group has had the honour of participating in the national-level Putul Yatra, an event focused on Indian puppet theatre tradition, organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi at New Delhi.
The troupe was in Lahore, Pakistan in 1998 to participate in the International Puppet Festival. “We felt as if we were in our homeland. People were very eager to see our shows. They were even ready to buy our puppets. In comparison, our own government has done little to encourage our art. We spent money from our own pockets to go to Pakistan. People queue up to sponsor cricket but who no one cares for art forms like Yakshagana Bombeyata,” bem-oans Sreenath.
The devotees sing and dance as their masters behind the scene direct them. Yes, these artistes on the stage are puppets, who act on the bid of their operators, the real artistes backstage.
Yakshagana Bombeyata, as this art form is called, is a rarity these days. But among the few who are keeping the art form alive and taking it to new horizons is the group Gopalkrishna Yakshagana Bombeyata Sangha.
Their puppet show saga began two decades ago. A BSc graduate and owner of a printing press, K V Ramesh is the brain behind this group. He has mastered the art of carving and chiseling puppets from wood, and decking them up with vibrant colours and rich costumes. “Making puppets involves a week-long process,” he explains. Ramesh has designed and developed ‘rod’ puppets, which are controlled and monitored with rods instead of strings.
The group comprises both professionals and students. During the day they attend college or work in their respective fields like printing press, teaching and so on. And at night they gather together to infuse life into the puppets. Their performance adheres to the Tenkutittu style of Yakshagana and they perform in three languages -- Kannada, Tulu and Malayalam.
“Late Kallakatta Laxmin-arayanayya and late K Venkata-krishnayya had strived a lot to popularise Yakshagana Bomb-eyata. Now, we have more than a lakh worth puppets with us. We had our first performance in 1981. The very next year we got an opportunity to stage our show in Thiruvananthapuram’s Raj Bhavan. Scholars from Denmark watched our performance in 1987 and were very impressed,’’ describes A Sreenath, a professor by profession and one of the troupe members.
Others in the group are Om Prakash K V Sudarshana, Santhosh K, Kumaraswamy, and Amita. The group has had the honour of participating in the national-level Putul Yatra, an event focused on Indian puppet theatre tradition, organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi at New Delhi.
The troupe was in Lahore, Pakistan in 1998 to participate in the International Puppet Festival. “We felt as if we were in our homeland. People were very eager to see our shows. They were even ready to buy our puppets. In comparison, our own government has done little to encourage our art. We spent money from our own pockets to go to Pakistan. People queue up to sponsor cricket but who no one cares for art forms like Yakshagana Bombeyata,” bem-oans Sreenath.
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