Craftsmanship of modern troupes

“Chiselling, carving and colouring of the string puppet figures and incising and cutout work of shadow puppets are highly developed. Many puppet figures in all forms of puppetry are exquisite pieces of art and reflect the heritage of the arts and crafts of the region”^[1] .

Now a days the puppeteers of Assam are using modern techniques while making their puppets. Modernization of puppetry is the demand of time. Some puppet groups are using both Rod and String puppet. Manoranjan Roy, one of the famous puppeteer of Assam uses rod puppets along with string puppets in his shows.Roy’s troupe “Sagarika Puppet Theatre” has been earning popularity since the introduction of new puppets in their performance. According to Manoranjan Roy, gestures of dance can easily represent by string puppets. Rod puppets are good in express different attractive body gesture.^[2] However for most of the modern troupe, thermocol and sponge made puppets are first choice. Making and manipulating process of thermocol puppet is easier than puppets made of wood and kuhila. Advantage of kuhila puppet is that costume of this kind of puppet can easily change during performance and one puppet can used for different characters, while it is difficult in case of wooden puppet.

The puppet wing of Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Assam has a group of puppeteers, who perform modern puppet show. They specially perform rod puppet.Paper mache, fenugreek powder and fevicol is mixed proportionately and face of puppets are made. Ply board and cotton is used for making body part of the puppets while distemper or poster colour is used for colouring them.