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Puppetry - full of toil, poor returns

For people tuned to Ramgopal Verma's movies the age-old Tholu Bommalaata might be a joke but the craft is incomparable to any modern entertainment, writes Sumit Bhattacharjee

Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

BEHIND THE SCENE Puppeteers at work backstage

For the 60-year old Anaparthi Subba Rao every show is like a new beginning. Even after hosting thousands of shows in a career spanning over five decades his adrenalin pumps up every time he holds the mike or the bamboo sticks with which he wields his dear puppets.

Subba Rao hails from a family of shadow puppeteers who have been entertaining people with their Tholu Bommalatta (shodow puppet show) for generations.

"There are over 10 families in our village Madhavapatnam who have been associated with this art for the last 10 to 12 generations. The art as per our records is over 600 years old and we have been following the same tradition with minor modifications here and there."

He was in this metro recently for a show at the Kalabharathi auditorium that was organsied by the Visakha Music and Dance Academy.

Shadow puppet shows are one among the oldest art forms of India. It is present in almost every State. Though they draw inspiration from each other they differ in certain ways like technique, music and material. Some are translucent to opaque, some small to medium-sized and some black-and-white or coloured. The influence of local folk music and paintings play a vital role in craft.

Whatever may be the difference, one thing holds the craft together. Epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana form the staple of the shadow puppet theatre.

"Earlier the entire epic would come for a marathon narrative in its sequence of events over several nights, but today we limit the show to two or three hours by performing only one episode from the epic," says Subba Rao. At Kalabharathi, he with his troupe staged the 'Sundarakanda'.

Tholu Bommalaata

The shadow puppet plays in Andhra are known as Tholu Bommalatta ('tholu' means leather). According to him, this art was practised mostly by their ancestors who hail from the East Godavari district. "Senior people in our village say that our ancestors gave performances in courts of Satavahana and Chalukya rulers. It is also from India that the art was exported to countries like Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In the earlier days the art used to be performed in the open air and only during festivals like Mahasivaratri and Navaratri. It was like seeing a movie.

"There is music, songs, dance, fight, emotion and humour," says Sri Nataraja Nilaya Charma Chitra Kala Pradarsana Committee president T. Pavan Kumar.

The puppets are made of dried up goat skin and they are cut and painted to suit the figure in the play. "Each character deserves a separate treatment. Ravana has to be painted red and covered with striking colours to give the impact of a villain and similarly Duryodhana or Duhsasana. It takes a week to prepare a puppet," says Pavan Kumar.

Family profession

The entire family is involved in the profession right from the six-year old kid to the senior most. Says Subba Rao: "My family is eight-strong. While my two sons wield the puppets, the rest are engaged in singing, dialogue delivery and giving music. My six-year-old grandson handles the cymbals."

Nothing much has changed over the years, with the puppets being prepared in the same traditional way. The music system comprises a dholak and a rickety harmonium. The only difference is that earlier they would use a gaslight behind the screen for the lighting effect.

Today that has been replaced by electric bulbs.

For people tuned to hard entertainment on television and Ram Gopal Verma movies, Tholu Bommalatta might be a joke. But considering the effects they can generate and the entertainment they can give with crude methods it is incomparable. Hanuman growing in size, clearing the Bay of Bengal in one jump and fighting the asuras could be depicted on screen with precision, but the same effect is brought about in Tholu Bommalata.

The regrettable aspect is that after all this toil, Subba Rao earns a paltry Rs.150 a show.

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