A folklore artiste, who lived as the brave Dhuriyodhana or the Lankan king Ravana for a whole night on the dais, becomes unwillingly an ordinary man the next morning. Puffing his beedi in the chill of dawn, he asks the organizer “Sir, we would like to know whether there is any transport facility arranged for us or have we got to walk to our village?"
Coimbatore: A folklore artiste, who lived as the brave Dhuriyodhana or the Lankan king Ravana for a whole night on the dais, becomes unwillingly an ordinary man the next morning. Puffing his beedi in the chill of dawn, he asks the organizer “Sir, we would like to know whether there is any transport facility arranged for us or have we got to walk to our village?"
Among such folklore artistes is Ammapettai Ganesan, a personality with an experience of over 50 years in Tholpavai (leather puppetry) and Therukothu (Street theatre).
Ganesan was introduced to the performance art when he was just seven years old to help his father Mottaiyan, who was a veteran in Tholpavai. Learning the techniques of dramatizing pieces of literature through characters made of ‘leather’ the uneducated genius started to perform Tholpavai independently at the age of 15. With his mother, a Therukoothu dancer, Ganesan has also been a stage artiste in Therukoothu, playing the role of Ravana, Keesaka, and Dhuriyodhana on numerous stages in the villages surrounding the Kongu region for almost half a century.
Vithaithavasam, a documentary film, introduces Ganesan through his voice as he sings and renders the dialogue for the characters shadowed on the translucent screen. A scene portraying the artiste, being one man, manipulating different puppets, and delivering their dialogues in different voices, proves the hardship in the performance of the show.
Unlike cinema, the stories narrated in shadow puppetry were generally from epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha, and the legend of Harischandra.
“Sometimes, as I had to close my show when night dawned unexpectedly with the scene of Ravana abducting Sita, villagers used to compel me to continue the show, as they believed that monsoon would fail in their village since the puppet show ended with the abduction of Sita! “says Ganesan in the documentary.
The film presents Ammapettai Ganesan making a leather puppet by cleaning the goatskin and painting the image of a princess on it. The director of the documentary M Harikrishnan also takes the audience in front of the leather puppets which are animated by Ganesan from behind the screen.
“I have shot the documentary reminding the authorities concerned to provide appropriate financial assistance to the folklore artistes like Ammapettai Ganesan, who have dedicated their entire lives to Therukoothu and Tholpavai. I also visited several universities in Tamil Nadu and invited Tamil professors to the screenings of the documentary at several places. However, neither the professors nor their students turned up “rued Harikrishnan
The title of the documentary ‘Vithaithavasam’ meaning the agricultural tradition of obtaining the seed from the first harvest and preserving it till the next one, symbolizes the art of Tholpavai, which should be handed down to the next generation. However, following the impact of cinema and various other visual entertainments, the indigenous art form is on the verge of extinction.
As shown in the last scene of the documentary, Ammapettai Ganesan is eking out a life by selling vegetables loaded on a Minidor auto.
Among such folklore artistes is Ammapettai Ganesan, a personality with an experience of over 50 years in Tholpavai (leather puppetry) and Therukothu (Street theatre).
Ganesan was introduced to the performance art when he was just seven years old to help his father Mottaiyan, who was a veteran in Tholpavai. Learning the techniques of dramatizing pieces of literature through characters made of ‘leather’ the uneducated genius started to perform Tholpavai independently at the age of 15. With his mother, a Therukoothu dancer, Ganesan has also been a stage artiste in Therukoothu, playing the role of Ravana, Keesaka, and Dhuriyodhana on numerous stages in the villages surrounding the Kongu region for almost half a century.
Vithaithavasam, a documentary film, introduces Ganesan through his voice as he sings and renders the dialogue for the characters shadowed on the translucent screen. A scene portraying the artiste, being one man, manipulating different puppets, and delivering their dialogues in different voices, proves the hardship in the performance of the show.
Unlike cinema, the stories narrated in shadow puppetry were generally from epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha, and the legend of Harischandra.
“Sometimes, as I had to close my show when night dawned unexpectedly with the scene of Ravana abducting Sita, villagers used to compel me to continue the show, as they believed that monsoon would fail in their village since the puppet show ended with the abduction of Sita! “says Ganesan in the documentary.
The film presents Ammapettai Ganesan making a leather puppet by cleaning the goatskin and painting the image of a princess on it. The director of the documentary M Harikrishnan also takes the audience in front of the leather puppets which are animated by Ganesan from behind the screen.
“I have shot the documentary reminding the authorities concerned to provide appropriate financial assistance to the folklore artistes like Ammapettai Ganesan, who have dedicated their entire lives to Therukoothu and Tholpavai. I also visited several universities in Tamil Nadu and invited Tamil professors to the screenings of the documentary at several places. However, neither the professors nor their students turned up “rued Harikrishnan
The title of the documentary ‘Vithaithavasam’ meaning the agricultural tradition of obtaining the seed from the first harvest and preserving it till the next one, symbolizes the art of Tholpavai, which should be handed down to the next generation. However, following the impact of cinema and various other visual entertainments, the indigenous art form is on the verge of extinction.
As shown in the last scene of the documentary, Ammapettai Ganesan is eking out a life by selling vegetables loaded on a Minidor auto.