A seven-day puppet festival begins on Sunday

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys along with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) will present a seven-day puppet festival titled ‘Navarasa - Festival of Emotions’ in Bengaluru. The festival will be inaugurated on March 12 at the newly-renovated ESV Auditorium, on the BVB campus.

The week-long event kicks off with ‘Poetry in Puppetry,’ a puppet musical by Dhaatu Puppet Theatre. It is directed by Anupama Hoskere and features dancer Divya Hoskere along with puppeteers Prakruti Hoskere, Mythily Shikarpur, and Chitra Rao.

On March 12, 5 pm, there will be a screening of a documentary film on puppets by Suchitra Film Society. Some of the other highlights of the festival include puppet shows such as ‘Lanka Dahana,’ a tholubommalata performance by Nimmalakunta Tholubommalata Nataka Brundam, Andhra Pradesh, and ‘Indrajit Kalaga’, an episode from ‘Ramayana’. There will also be lectures and talks on topics such as ‘navarasa’ in Indian classical music, paintings, sculptures, literature and theatre.

One can also look forward to a puppet exhibition, a philatelic exhibition on puppetry, a book exhibition, and an artist camp, by G S B Agnihotri.

The puppet festival will be inaugurated by scholar Shatavadhani Dr R Ganesh, the artist camp by Shrutee Khurana, director, Infosys Foundation, and the book and philatelic exhibitions by S Suresh Kumar, MLA and former Education Minister, Government of Karnataka. “The audience will get an opportunity to witness different forms of puppetry for a whole week. Artistes will get a chance to showcase their unique artforms,” says P Venugopal, joint director, BVB.

In recent months, Infosys Foundation has held festivals on various themes at locations like Mysuru, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Indore.

At Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Race Course Road. March 12-18, 10.30 am. Entry free.