The Kathakatha Puppet Fringe Festival returns to New Delhi from April 10–12, celebrating one of India’s oldest yet often overlooked art forms. Rooted in centuries of tradition, the festival brings together diverse puppetry styles from across the country while spotlighting contemporary narratives through new performances developed at the Kathakatha Puppet Incubation Lab. Blending mythology, social awareness, and modern storytelling, the festival repositions puppetry as a dynamic and relevant medium, while championing the artists, craft, and cultural ecosystems that sustain it.
The history of puppetry in India goes back centuries. From ancient mythology, where Brahma, the creator of the world, is said to have created the first puppeteer, to references in the Mahabharata, puppetry has been an integral part of Indian folklore. Over time, it evolved into a medium of education and social awareness, featuring stories from mythology and epics that were passed down through generations via the oral tradition.
Every region of India has its own iteration of puppetry, such as Kundhei, the traditional string puppetry from Odisha; Karnataka’s Togalu Gombeyatta, a form of shadow puppetry; and Yampuri, a style of rod puppetry found in Bihar, to name a few. Each of these art forms is deeply rooted in the mythological history and cultural beliefs of its region.
To celebrate this rich heritage and history of one of India’s oldest yet lesser-explored art forms, the Kathakatha Puppet Arts Trust, established in 1998 is bringing back the Kathakatha Puppet Fringe Festival for another edition at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, from April 10 to 12.
Emerging out of the Kathakatha Puppet Incubation Lab — where artists and puppeteers from across the country come together to share ideas and create new work — 12 participants were selected for a rigorous two-week residency in January 2026. Through masterclasses led by experts in puppet-making, writing, and performance, the participants were trained to develop their own original productions. They were also supported with grants to bring these works to fruition, which will be performed at the festival.
With each performance offering a fresh perspective on puppetry, the festival brings forward stories rooted in the contemporary Indian experience while drawing from indigenous traditions. Its aim is to showcase the diversity of the form and also bring puppetry into the forefront of public discourse, inviting wider audiences to engage with an art form that has long remained underrepresented.
For instance, Chehek, directed by Umesh Kumar, draws attention to the alarming decline in sparrow populations, using puppetry to explore the environmental and human factors behind their disappearance. Meanwhile, The Last Gombe of Bangalore tells the story of Bangalore's last existing ‘drishti gombe’, a traditional evil-eye scarecrow commonly found in South Indian households, and the many lives it has lived as the cityscape has changed over the years. Through such narratives, the festival highlights how puppetry continues to evolve, becoming a powerful medium to reflect on both cultural memory and pressing contemporary concerns.
The Kathakatha Puppet Fringe Festival shines a light on an art form that has quietly pioneered and influenced many of the mainstream mediums we engage with today — be it theatre, dance, or even television. And, despite its profound legacy, it often remains on the margins of contemporary cultural conversations. Kathakatha Puppet Fringe Festival, by positioning it back into public view is championing the whole ecosystem that creates this art form. The stories, the audiences, the technicalities behind it, and more importantly the people themselves.
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