Keli Puppetry Festival 2025
(Exploring India's Ancient Tradition)
On 18, 19 January 2025
Presented by
Supported by
Dear Art Lover,
KELI is a Mumbai-based registered cultural organization striving to preserve,develop, and propagate the cultural arts heritage of India. Keli has been active in this field for the last 31 years and, during this period, has successfully managed numerous important projects in furtherance of its objectives.
Keli is now entering its 32nd year, exploring the rich and diverse forms of India's artistic traditions. Over the past three decades, Keli has presented many unique and lesser-known performing art forms to contemporary urban audiences without diluting the core essence of the art. The annual Keli festivals,structured thematically every year, are well known among artists and art lovers in the city, earning the organization a significant place in Mumbai's cultural life. Over the years, Keli has curated 50 festivals, reaching over 150,000 audience members and collaborating with more than 1,500 artists.
Keli is celebrating its concluding segment of 32nd anniversary with a puppetry festival. This festival focuses on exploring the ancient theatre puppetry traditions of India. It will feature curated performances of two ancient puppetry traditions;String Puppetry from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra & Shadow Puppetry from Dharmavaram, Andhra Pradesh.
We are delighted to invite you to participate in this festival.
A puppet is one of the most remarkable andingenious inventions of humankind.India is said to be the home of puppets. The earliest reference to the art of puppetry is found in the Tamil classic Silappatikaram, written around the 1st or 2nd century BC. Based on ancient manuscripts and vital evidence, it is assumed that puppetry originated in India more than 500 years before Christ. Almost all types of puppets are found in India. Stories adapted from Puranic literature, local myths, and legends usually form the content of traditional puppet theatre in India. It incorporates elements of all creative expressions, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, and drama. The types of puppets in India include, String Puppets, Shadow Puppets, Rod Puppets and Clove Puppets. String Puppets are operated using strings. This tradition is prominent in Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Shadow Puppets are cut from leather and treated to make them translucent. Shadow puppets are pressed against a screen with a strong light source behind them. The manipulation between light and the screen creates silhouettes or colorful shadows for the audience seated in front. This tradition is found in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.This festival showcases only the string and Shadow puppetry.
Saturday, 18 January 2025,
Dedication: Dedicating the festival towards the memory of Dr. S.K. Nair
Guest of Honour: Subhankar Sen - Business Head,Mak Lubricants, BPCL, Lubes,Mumbai, Mr. N. Mahesh - Joint General Manager-Marketing, PRLIC Housing Finance Ltd.Mumbai, Swati Apte-Director, Kshir Sagar Foundation, Sajith Pallippuram,MD Impel Services Pvt Ltd, Thomas Mathew - Art enthusiast
Performed by: Chetan Parshuram and group
Sunday, 19th January, 2025,
at Agri Koli Sanskriti Bhavan, Nerul (West),Palm Beach Road Plot No. 9, Sector 24, Navi Mumbai at 6.30 pm
Presented by: Chaya Nataka Brundam, Dharmavaram, Andhra Pradesh
KELI is a Mumbai-based registered cultural organization striving to preserve,develop, and propagate the cultural arts heritage of India. Keli has been active in this field for the last 31 years and, during this period, has successfully managed numerous important projects in furtherance of its objectives.
Keli is now entering its 32nd year, exploring the rich and diverse forms of India's artistic traditions. Over the past three decades, Keli has presented many unique and lesser-known performing art forms to contemporary urban audiences without diluting the core essence of the art. The annual Keli festivals,structured thematically every year, are well known among artists and art lovers in the city, earning the organization a significant place in Mumbai's cultural life. Over the years, Keli has curated 50 festivals, reaching over 150,000 audience members and collaborating with more than 1,500 artists.
Keli is celebrating its concluding segment of 32nd anniversary with a puppetry festival. This festival focuses on exploring the ancient theatre puppetry traditions of India. It will feature curated performances of two ancient puppetry traditions;String Puppetry from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra & Shadow Puppetry from Dharmavaram, Andhra Pradesh.
We are delighted to invite you to participate in this festival.
Ramachandran. K
Artistic Director & Project- Co-ordinator
Puppetry in India
A puppet is one of the most remarkable andingenious inventions of humankind.India is said to be the home of puppets. The earliest reference to the art of puppetry is found in the Tamil classic Silappatikaram, written around the 1st or 2nd century BC. Based on ancient manuscripts and vital evidence, it is assumed that puppetry originated in India more than 500 years before Christ. Almost all types of puppets are found in India. Stories adapted from Puranic literature, local myths, and legends usually form the content of traditional puppet theatre in India. It incorporates elements of all creative expressions, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, and drama. The types of puppets in India include, String Puppets, Shadow Puppets, Rod Puppets and Clove Puppets. String Puppets are operated using strings. This tradition is prominent in Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Shadow Puppets are cut from leather and treated to make them translucent. Shadow puppets are pressed against a screen with a strong light source behind them. The manipulation between light and the screen creates silhouettes or colorful shadows for the audience seated in front. This tradition is found in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.This festival showcases only the string and Shadow puppetry.
Day 1
Saturday, 18 January 2025,
at Agri Koli Sanskriti Bhavan, Nerul (West),Palm Beach Road Plot No. 9, Sector 24, Navi Mumbai at 6.30 pm
Inagural Programe
Dedication: Dedicating the festival towards the memory of Dr. S.K. Nair
Dr. S.K. Nair (1917–1984)
Dr. S.K. Nair, also popularly known as S.K., was noted for his contributions to folk art forms,literature,and language that spanned Kerala,Tamil Nadu, and the broader Dravidian culture. His famous book, Keralathile Nadoti Natakangal, which was his doctoral thesis, remains a valuable reference for researchers engaged in folklore studies worldwide. S.K. translated Kambaramayanam from Tamil into Malayalam. He was a Kathakali exponent and wrote books on Kathakali while also advocating for the revival of ancient dance forms like Koodiyattam. As a language expert, he researched the history of Indian prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in Malayalam in the context of other Indian languages and Sanskrit as a source.Guest of Honour: Subhankar Sen - Business Head,Mak Lubricants, BPCL, Lubes,Mumbai, Mr. N. Mahesh - Joint General Manager-Marketing, PRLIC Housing Finance Ltd.Mumbai, Swati Apte-Director, Kshir Sagar Foundation, Sajith Pallippuram,MD Impel Services Pvt Ltd, Thomas Mathew - Art enthusiast
Lecture Demonstration on String Puppetry of Maharashtra
Performance: Kalsutri Bahulya (String Puppetry)
Performed by: Chetan Parshuram and group
Story: Thadaka Vadh
(Duration: 50 minutes)
Artist Background:
The Gangawane family consists of traditional String Puppets artisans who perpetuate the ancient skill while also including modern ideas. Chetan has completed a Bachelor of Arts from Mumbai University and for the last 22 years has been working on Puppet and all Thakar art forms all over India.Tholubommalata (Leather Shadow Puppetry) Parshuram Gangavane (2021 Padmashree awardee) and his two sons host String & shadow Puppet performances at a museum on a daily basis. The Gangavane family is so committed to preserving their collective art form that they sold their cows and converted their cowshed into a Chitrakathi, Shadow & String Puppet museum where they hold workshops and performances – the museum is called the Thakar Adivasi Kala Angan (Museum and Art Gallery) of the ancient village of Pinguli. Pinguli's Thakar Adivasi caste is traditionally involved in eleven various performing arts.Day 2
Sunday, 19th January, 2025,
at Agri Koli Sanskriti Bhavan, Nerul (West),Palm Beach Road Plot No. 9, Sector 24, Navi Mumbai at 6.30 pm
Lecture Demonstration on Leather Shadow Puppetry
Performance:Tholubommalata (Leather Shadow Puppetry)
Presented by: Chaya Nataka Brundam, Dharmavaram, Andhra Pradesh
Story: Sundara Kanda from Ramayana
Artist Background:
The late Shri Sinde Narayanappa and the late Shrimati Shanthamma further carried forward this inherited craft, making it their livelihood. They created characters of interest using the skin of animals like goats or sheep, often drawing inspiration from epics such as The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. They performed shows both within the country and abroad. Later, this tradition was passed on to the next generation. Presently, the artists in this team are 28 to 76 years of age, male and female.
Participating Artists :
Chetan Parshuram Gangavane, Eknath Parshuram Gangavane, Pravin Ashok Gangavane,Rajat Rajan Gangavane, Gopal Narayan Masage, Sinde Chithambara Rao
Sinde Chinna Venkatamma, Kende Viranjinayulu. V Kullayappa, Kende Anjinamma,
Kande Gangadhara,S Sreenivasulu, Sinde Lokesh, Sinde Haritha
Our Sincere Thanks to:
Sanjna Kapoor, Thomas Mathew, Swati Apte, Dr. Ajayya Kumar ( Chairman, Peruvanam International Village Festival), Venugopal Menon T ( MD Oasis Chemical Material Trading Co LLC) , Mathew Thomas, Sachin Menon, V. Shashikumar, Sreekumar Kaimal, DSK Associates, Rajesh, Indu Sagar, N. Sreejith, Jerry Sebastian, Sibi Sathyan, Hariharan T.N., Valsalan Moorkoth, Nisha Gilbert, Sasi Nair, Bindu Menon, Bose Krishnamachari, Dr. C.S. Venkiteshwaran, Riyas Komu, New Bombay Keraleeya Samajan, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Manorama News, Mathrubhumi News, Asianet News
Illustration : Sumi K Raj
Graphic Art: Rajesh Mumbai
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