Kalai Foundation

In December 1999, IFA made a grant to R V Ramani to make a digital video documentary on the shadow puppet theatre of south India. This film (Nee Engey?) offers us significant insights into the rich performative aspects of shadow puppetry even as it documents the work of the last practitioners of this dying art form.

On completing his film, Ramani realized that he had all along been nurturing a quiet resolve to confront the callous disregard with which society viewed the shadow puppeteer. This led him to collaborate with Kalai Foundation, Chennai, to explore an innovative programme that would create new audiences for both his film and the shadow puppeteer’s craft simultaneously.

Over an extended weekend, Kalai Foundation set up multiple shadow puppetry performances and student workshops, and organized screenings of Nee Engey? The grant supported the Nee Engey Shadow Puppet Theater Travelling Festival which featured the screening of the film Nee Engey?, followed by discussions with the filmmaker and performanceds by select puppeteers and shadow pouppery workshops for students. The Festival generated genuine interest in shadow puppet theatre, and was an ideal screening platform for Nee Engey.

In eight months, the Kalai foundation organized shadow puppetry performances and workshops, set up screenings of Nee Engey in 15 locations across Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Shadow puppetry groups from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa are expected to participate in the tour. This event, Ramani is confident, will go a long way in honoring the shadow puppeteer and in creating new possibilities for the growth of this art form. The Kali foundation will soon undertake a feasibility study to determine how this festival could be presented in other cities of India