A new puppet show in the city aims to teach and entertain by combining different puppetry styles.
Take back home important life lessons while you watch Nani puppet narrate an age-old story live on stage
In Nani’s world, animals talk, there’s singing and dancing, and the important values of being kind, generous and helpful are brought out beautifully. It denotes that whether it’s people, animals or plants, we all inhabit this planet, and we can coexist harmoniously. However, the beauty of the show, Nani Ki Kahani, is that the story doesn’t shout out these messages. These values lie subtly beneath the fun and laughter that a puppet show promises.
“It is a puppet play designed and directed by Hashim Haider and performed by me. It features the puppet Nani, who’s a storyteller. She is a life-size puppet modelled on my 77-year-old nani (grandmother). We kept her picture in front of us and built the puppet accordingly. In the show, my feet become Nani’sNani’s feet,feet, soso inin aa way, it’s a hybrid puppet that borrows a lot from the puppeteer to come alive,” says puppeteer Sangya Ojha.
THE STORY UNFOLDS
In the show, as nani begins narrating the story, the stage comes alive with shadow puppetry projection, and the audience sees the whole story play out as they listen to nani.
“Once nani starts to tell the story, shadow puppets join her and make it even more exciting. But that’s not all. There’s a mystery woven in, and until the audience solves it, the story can’t progress. So, the show depends a lot on audience interaction, especially from enthusiastic children, who love to help nani in her quest. There are animal sound clues to guess who is entering the story, and also a funny and mischievous thief. It’s a fun-filled adventure,” says Haider.
BACK TO CHILDHOOD
Walking down memory lane, Ojha talks about her inspiration for Nani Ki Kahani. “During power cuts in Patna (Bihar), which was frequent [when I was growing up there], my mother would tell me and my sister a story. It used to be the same story every night. We loved it. She had heard this story from her mother when she was a child. While growing up, this story stayed with me. I’d revisit it on cold nights and feel the same warmth I felt then. Recently, I was talking to my nani over the phone and suddenly, don’t know how or why, I mentioned this story to her. Nani sounded like a child when she told me that she had heard it from her own grandmother during the 1940s,” says Ojha.
Ojha adds, “Nani told me the whole story again — right there over the phone. I had the wondrous experience of hearing the same story from my nani after almost 30 years. It was magical. I was transported to my childhood — snuggled under a blanket, in the dim light of a candle, listening to the story in awe. It was as if this story had found its way back to me again. I felt moved beyond my power to pass this story on. Hashim heard all about it and was also blown away with its timelessness. We almost felt compelled to tell it to everyone and it took the shape of an intimate puppet show.”
PUPPET ART
Two very different kinds of puppet styles will be used in the show — one is a life-size, walk-around puppet — a sort of hybrid puppet, in which half of puppeteer’s body becomes the puppet’s body. The puppeteer will be in full view of the audience, right behind the puppet, playing it from the rear, saying lines for the puppet and syncing the puppet’s mouth accordingly.
The other is the more popular shadow puppetry style. The whole story will be played out with shadow puppets. A video recording of those puppets have been made and it will be projected on screen as nani tells her story. Almost making it a flashback kind of a device.
“I think artistic programmes such as puppetry, storytelling, painting, music and dancing, enhance young kids’ imagination, communication as well as social skills. It also encourages them to become better thinkers, choice makers and problem solvers. Art helps them express themselves better, and be more empathetic and confident. Plus, it provides a creative outlet for the unbounded energy children have,” says Ojha.