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Manish Halder
Manish Halder uses puppetry and theatre as a medium for storytelling, particularly as a teaching technique. He has been a puppet maker for last 7 years and an active puppeteer for last four years. He has taught puppetry to the media students of 2 Universities viz; Jamia (MCRC, I year) and Indraprastha (CMS, I year) along with Ranjana Pandey. His main forte is Children’s theatre. He also runs his own art and education promotion group, Purak.
Ravi Mahor works with the Nectar Foundation of India since 2001 and conducts shows on themes like AIDS and income generation for women in some villages around Delhi.
Harpreet Kaur teaches Craft in education for the B.El.Ed course in Delhi University, under CIE. Having studied at NSD, Harpreet Kaur does puppetry (hand, stick) and conducts workshops in schools and NGOs.
Suhrid Mukhopadhyay used to be an active puppeteer till a few years back and was a part of a puppet group in Delhi. His forte is hand, glove and shadow puppets.
Anil Saxena, who was initially a part of the Delhi Puppet Theatre, works with contemporary puppet theatre and makes ad films and puppet films for his banner ‘Aneel Films’
Anurupa Roy, a professional puppeteer, has been in this field for the past 10 years and runs a group called Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust. Her work includes workshops, stage performances, ranging from a Shakespearean comedy to performances for conflict resolution, etc. Katkatha is known for its varied and consistent work, and is one of the few active puppet groups in the city.
Puran Bhatt is a traditional Rajasthani katputhli artiste. He stays in Katputhli colony, which is a community full of folk artists and is one of the most talented and renowned katputhli performers in India. His USP is the incorporation of styles of contemporary puppetry in traditional rajasthani folk puppetry. Having been a puppeteer since 1980s, Puran Bhatt conducts regular workshops and runs his group Aakaar Puppet Theatre which includes many of the young puppeteers from Katputhli colony.
Dadi Pudumjee is a renowned modern puppeteer from India and has been contributing to this field for the past 30 years. His group Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust was among the first of its kind to come up in India. Ishara comes up frequently with its productions, workshops and an annual Puppet Festival. It has often produced and collaborated its shows/performances with other organisations like UNESCO, etc. and even trains future puppeteers.
Ranjana Pandey has worked closely with children with mental or physical disability and uses puppetry for their therapy and education. She is also involved with teaching puppetry to mass communication students at MCRC, Jamia University, and is counted among the initial innovators of styles and themes in modern puppetry in India
Varun Narain, a graduate from MCRC in Jamia Millia Islamia, has been working as a professional puppeteer since 1992. He has taught at MCRC, Rai University, Elite Modelling School, etc along with taking workshops on puppetry, producing puppet plays and other performances. He ran a group called Pi Theatre for a few years, before deciding to work as a solo puppeteer. Varun Narain and his puppets are well known for their liberal stand on issues and themes surrounding gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc.
Shubha Saxena pursues puppetry through her group Rangpeeth Puppet Theatre, which was extremely active through the 1990s. She currently works with Sangeet Natak Akademi as a Consultant, Puppetry.
IP Singh presently works with NDTV for their shows that use puppets for political satire. In the past he has worked with well known puppeteers of the city like Ranjana Pandey, Dadi Pudumjee as a part of Ishara Puppet theatre Trust, Anurupa Roy as a part of Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, etc and been a part of many performances within and outside India.
Kailash Bhatt is a folk artist from Katputhli colony and has inherited the art of traditional rajasthani puppetry from his father. At 20, Kailash Bhatt has traveled outside India for performances and has set up his own group called House of Puppets, for promotion of their cultural traditions, which holds a commune of folk artists once a week for visitors and tourists.
Sampa Ghosh is a formally trained puppeteer, who has off late been involved with extensive research and writing on Indian Puppetry. Her website provides the most elaborate information on Puppetry in India. She works with Centre for Cultural Resources and Training presently, and is involved in teacher training and use of puppetry in education. | |
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