The Puppetarians is a-one-of-its-kind puppet design and performance team that has been doing extensive work in puppetry, bridging the gap between education and entertainment, and spreading awareness about the art of puppetry through their successful Puppet- shows and Puppetry workshops all over India. Their shows and workshops have been widely appreciated in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Tirupur, Chennai, Kolhapur, Amritsar and Pune to name a few.
Founders: Sangya Ojha and Hashim Haider have been Puppeteers for Sesame Street India (also known as Galli Galli Sim Sim, on air Cartoon Network and POGO) since its inception. The show is the Hindi version of Sesame Street, New York. Sangya played Anchoo and Elmo-the famous international muppet character. Hashim played the famous Bollywood Dude and an array of other characters in Galli Galli SimSim.
Trained by Martin P. Robinson (Senior Muppeteer, Telly Monster in the famous Sesame Street) Noel MacNeal, (Bear in the Big Blue House, New York).
The Puppetarians are organizing a six day intensive puppetry workshop starting from May 21st to 26th, 2012 (10am to 12pm) at NCPA, Mumbai. They also recently showcased their new show ‘The Dog Story’ which is based on the Puranas at Chennai on May 1st, 2012.
AnimationXpress.com’s Khushali Jobalia had a conversation with The Puppetarians Founders Sangya Ojha and Hashim Haider about the workshop and their latest show- ‘The Dog Story’ and more…
Excerpts
Could you give us a brief synopsis on The Dog story?
A: ‘The Dog Story’ talks of the special bond shared between dog and humans, which started such a long long time ago and is still going so strong.
After Lord Brahma was done creating the universe he created someone very special – a little dog. Brahma commanded him to go in search of the most powerful and friendly creature on earth who will be his true friend for life. The dog then embarks on this adventurous journey to find his true friend, where he first meets Mandy – the Monkey. Mandy seems really friendly but he isn’t the most powerful one in the jungle. So the dog starts his search again. He then meets the Lion who is very powerful but not so friendly. At the end the dog meets the hunter and finds that he is the one Lord Brahma was prophesying about.
What is the inspiration behind retelling the concept of The Puranas?
Puranas contain the oldest stories possible and still not very known to today’s children. While we were researching on a new concept to base our show on we read some stories from The Puranas and found that these stories have an engrained message in them that’s simple yet powerful. Being a traditional story we thought of presenting it in the unique Puppetarians’ style that’s contemporary and fun, giving the story a very different look yet containing it’s message in the core.
What was the most difficult challenge in creating the show? How did you tackle it?
There were two big hurdles in creating ‘The Dog Story’. First of all, the original Puranas story talked of ‘how dog became the servant of man’. Even though we loved the idea of how a little dog had this small adventure and found his destiny, we were clear that we didn’t want to tell children that dog is human’s servant and we are his master. So, we adapted this story and re-wrote it in such a way that the dog goes out to find himself ‘a friend’ not a master.
Secondly, when we came to creating the show visually, we were wondering as to how best we can begin the story. In the beginning we wanted to show the creation of the world, Brahma creating everything. Now, The Puppetarians’ intrinsic puppet style is muppets-kind-of-puppets with fabric, fur and foam. But for this show we thought of doing something totally different and equally impactful in the beginning.
So, we worked on shadow puppets for the opening sequence where creation of the universe is shown. Because it’s an age old story, the shadow puppets gave this show a traditional feel and when we came out with the Puppetarians’ puppets it made a perfect marriage between the old and new.
How many artists worked on the show?
We are two puppeteers Hashim Haider and Sangya Ojha who started The Puppetarians and we are the only people working on all the aspects of the show: concept, story, wiritng, puppet design, puppet making and performance.
When did you release the show? And where?
A: We did the first show at Chennai on May 1st, 2012. Me and Hashim did all the voices.
How was the response?
A lot of children and parents came to watch the show on May 1st and had a gala time. We came to know our audience’s response early on in the show when they stated singing with our characters, laughed and clapped for them. As this story talks about the special bond humans share with dogs, there were many children in the audience who had dogs and they could relate to the story. Some of them came to us at the end of the show and told us how happy they were to know how this friendship between us and dogs came into being…which was really sweet.
Tell us about the workshop that you conducted in Chennai?
After the show we also conducted a workshop for children on how to manipulate a puppet. We provided each child with a small dog puppet we ourselves had handmade for them. We gave them the basics of puppetry techniques: how to move a puppet’s mouth while you synch your voice with it, how to make it look alive, how we can modulate our voices according to the kind of characters we wish to create. Children had a great time woof woofing for their dog puppets and giving their own dog puppets a name, singing with their puppets…etc. At the end they could take their dog puppets home with them…they also found a friend for life just like in our story the dog finds his true friend.
While the children rehearsed we could see that we had ignited in each child an interest in puppetry. This is the vision we work with, to not only show the children but also give them a hands on experience of this dynamic art called puppetry. That’s why we always like to hold a workshop after our shows.
And you now have another workshop coming up in Mumbai on May 21..there must be quite a demand…?
We wish to create quality time for children and parents with our puppet shows, a space where they can have fun and learn along with our loveable puppet characters and their little adventures. But we have often seen that after the show the children show an avid interest in how we sit behind the puppet theatre and how do we manipulate the puppets. We work on this interest that gets created on watching our show amongst children.
Through the Puppetarians’ Puppetry Workshops we wish to bring children closer to the art of puppetry. Giving them the basic know how of the techniques involved, working with them on the ideas to create their own puppet characters and opening up their minds towards this wonderful dynamic art form called puppetry. We wish to share with everyone what we have learnt through all these years of puppet practice. We wish to create more joy and spread more smiles through puppetry! Even if one child says that ‘I want to grow up to be a puppeteer’ after our workshops we will consider our work done.
What are the dates for the workshop and the venue?
A: It’s a six day intensive puppetry workshop starting from May 21st to 26th, 2012 (10am to 12pm) NCPA Mumbai.
Could you give us the agenda for the The Puppetarians’ Workshop?
Introduction to the art of puppetry
Various Puppet practices
Puppet making
Puppetry techniques
Characterization
Character Voicing
Watching videos puppet segments
Creating your own puppet theatre
How to perform with your puppet character
Creating a story for puppet performances
Our vision is to make this workshop fun yet fruitful for each participant (would be puppeteers). At the end of the workshop each child will have a puppet character created by him/herself and a valuable experience of playing with fellow puppetry student for 6 days.
How would students benefit through this workshop?
A: Puppetry is the most dynamic art form. It employs craft, drama, speech, singing, dancing, voicing, puppetry skill/techniques, story-telling and so many other art forms. Each participant will work on all these aspects during this workshop to reach that point where he/she will be able to perform with his/her puppet character. This workshop will bring out the child’s hidden performer also building on his/her confidence as a puppeteer. As he/she will explore so many art forms he/she will realize his/her strengths and how he/she can apply these to Puppetry. Even if one child says that ‘I want to grow up to be a puppeteer’ after our workshops we will consider our work done
What is the registration procedure?
A: To register, contact: 66223802/ 9920899485
E-mail: ncpa.summerfiesta@gmail.com
Resister Online: http://in.bookmyshow.com/festivals_ncpa/
Age: 8 to 12 yrs (For NCPA Workshop)
Fee: 4200/-
What are your expectations from the workshop?
We just wish to introduce children to the art of puppetry. We look forward to the children having fun involving them in creative play. We wish to encourage them to ask questions, communicate freely and follow their hearts in creating their puppet characters and stories.