|
By Huned Contractor Although most people consider puppetry just another form of entertainment, Pune-based Hemant and Ranjana Kanitkar use the art for social awakening and reformation
 He smokes, drinks and loves to womanise. But he won't be able to enjoy doing these things for very much longer. He's a recent victim of AIDS. The woman he loved to visit every night now shuns him and his wife has no choice but to look after him. The idea of death that once frightened him has become his only hope. The sooner it comes, the better.
This is not a true story. But it could be, as professional puppeteers Hemant and Ranjana Kanitkar know from their study of rural situations where the head of the family is easy prey to vices when the harvest has been good and cash plentiful. Using puppets as a means to spread awareness, Hemant and Ranjana have, over the past 22 years, travelled across villages and towns to narrate their stories. "There is no way you can lecture a villager on what is right and wrong and then expect him to be a changed man overnight. Driving home a message through the medium of entertainment definitely has a better success rate," explains Hemant. Puppetry has always had a strong presence in the rural entertainment sector, perhaps just a notch below folk theatre. Unfortunately, however, it's perceived as a "comic act for kids". This is something that the Kanitkars have been trying hard to change. "We have tackled issues relating to communal divides, dalit atrocities, exploitation of women, addictions to drugs and liquor, infanticide and child education by using puppets. But care has to be taken to ensure that every performance has dollops of humour, sometimes even at crass levels," says Ranjana. Hemant's skill with puppets is a gift from his father Vasant Kanitkar who learnt it from an American lady invited by the Indian government during the mid-'70s to conduct puppet workshops in schools. "I started experimenting with puppets only as an extension of my love for theatre," says Hemant, who has studied at the National School of Drama under the tutelage of renowned theatre personalities like Ebrahim Alkazi, Sivaram Karanth and Meher Contractor. "I was working as a freelance artiste till 1979 and took to full-time puppetry only after I received a fellowship to examine how puppets could be used to educate the rural poor," he elaborates. Around this time, Hemant met Ranjana who was an activist propagating the ideology of Jayaprakash Narayan. "We got married and decided to set up the People's Universal Popular Puppetry Educational Theatre (PUPPET) as a forum to explore the relationship between this folk medium and social issues," says Ranjana. As one thing led to another, the Kanitkars began using puppetry as therapy for spastics. One project involved the psychological rehabilitation of disabled soldiers by providing them the necessary training to make and use puppets, both for their creative satisfaction and as an income-generating opportunity. Supported by organisations such as the Ford Foundation, the department of handicrafts and the department of science and technology, Hemant and Ranjana began to "decentralise the process" by training puppeteers in other parts of the country. "Since we could not speak all the languages, we started networking with committed artistes in other parts of the country to teach them the skills," explains Hemant. Currently, there are 76 independent puppet groups in Maharashtra performing at the local level, and 40 national-level groups working on a broader platform. Using one or a combination of the four puppetry options (string, rod, shadow and glove) Hemant and Ranjana travel the country working with NGOs to study area-specific issues and then devising the right acts for niche audiences that range from the poorest of villagers to highbrow academicians. Of course, challenges and problems are a part of the profession. Citing one instance, Hemant recalls how they were stoned in a village in Rajasthan for daring to use puppets to decry the tradition of child marriage. "Even if the element of tongue-in-cheek humour softens the direct impact of the statement we are trying to make, there are times when certain limits cannot be crossed. Sarcasm is often misconstrued as arrogance," he says. Interestingly, the biggest headache for the couple is warding off politicians who wish to use them for campaigning during elections. "Our commitment is to education and creating awareness. Political lobbying, even if the monetary stakes are high, cannot ever be a part of our agenda," Ranjana emphasises. Another area of concern is the constant struggle to make NGOs understand that project proposals for funding should include such advocacy media. "Most NGOs would like us to come and perform for free. They fail to realise that puppetry is a serious business, not just about dolls who speak and move," she emphasises. Indeed, the seriousness of this art can be gauged by the fact that the Kanitkars have been chosen by the University of Poona's anthropology department to undertake an impact-assessment project that will measure the before and after knowledge levels of villagers who have attended a puppetry performance. "It is a very scientific study and will help us take puppetry that much further," says Hemant. The rag doll that he holds in his hand nods in agreement. (InfoChange News & Features, March 2004)
|
