Yearlong India tour to stage ‘Gandhikoothu’ shadow puppetry

Puppeteers Ramachandra Pulavar and team from Krishnankutty Pulavar Memorial Tholpavakootu and Puppetry Centre based at Kunathara in Palakkad district are on an India tour for performing Gandhikoothu, the story of Mahatma Gandhi in shadow puppetry in different venues across the length and breadth of India.  Supported by Ministry of Culture and Education, Government of India, the series of puppetry presentations are part of the celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Gandhikoothu is an hour long shadow-puppet show focuses on the political life of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Nation- his life in South Africa, the Salt March, Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Quit India movement, the communal riots and the partition of India and his final days in life. The story is depicted using 70 puppets. Apart from the Mahatma Gandhi, the other characters in the depiction include Jawaharlal Nehru, Kasturba Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Lord Mountbatten and Maulana Azad. 

The designs of the puppets were given by a London based Malayali artiste, Killimangalam Jamsheed and the screenplay in Malayalam is by Nandan Edappal, a novelist. Shadow Puppet play is directed by Ramachandra Pulavar, a traditional puppeteer and the director of Krishnankutty Pulavar Memorial Tholpavakootu and Puppetry Centre. Ramachandra Pulavar belongs to a traditional family of Tholpavakoothu practitioners. The family has been performing Tholpavakoothu, the shadow puppetry as ritual in Bhadrakali temples along the River Nila, since centuries. The puppeteers in the team include Ramachandra Pulavar,  Rajeev Pulavar, Rahul Pulavar, Lakshman, Sanju, Manoj,  Arun, Rajalakshmi,  Rajitha and Aswathy, most of them are from the same family. 

Started on 2nd October 2018, the one year long tour covers almost all the states in India and present Gandhikoothu in many schools and public venues across India. By this time, the team has already presented the puppet play in about 100 venues, covering different states in India.