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At the "Sangeet
Natak Festival" organised by Nehru Centre in Mumbai, India the discerning
audience at the overpacked
Nehru Centre auditorium was pleasantly startled & overjoyed to witness
the resurrection of pioneer Indian
Dramatist Vishnudas Bhave's puppet play "Kashtapachalika" in all its
original elements & exquisitely restored 150
years old puppets. This
puppet play was presented by renowned Ventriloquist & puppeteer
Ramdas
Padhye
in all its
splendor & by practising the unique "Vishnudas Techniques" in all
details.
20 years ago when Ramdas Padhye was handed over this treasure of puppets, they were all in shambles & nothing more than a neglected heap of wooden parts. Motivated by historic contribution of Late Vishnudas Bhave, Ramdas Padhye set upon with singular devotion to restore this treasure to its original glory & splendor. In the quest
for resurrection and restoration of these puppets he waded through
available 19th century literature,
newspapers & biography with the able assistance of his wife Aparna
Ramdas. Together, they pieced together
various references, scripts & leads gathered from the various spare
parts of puppets & finally restored some of the
puppets to the original splendor. *These puppets are basically operated by
string & rod techniques which are
superbly complemented by mechanical pulleys & specially crafted puppet
theatre with inter-changeable wooden tracks. This unique technique presented by Ramdas
Padhye may be is first of
its kind in international arena which was discovered 150 years ago by Indian puppeteer, Vishnudas Bhave.
Ramdas, wife Aparna & son Satyajit with Resurrected Puppets Ramdas Padhye & his team brought to life these puppets almost after 150 years by staging this historic event at the Nehru Centre auditorium. This play which has integrated sophisticated puppets, unique style of presentation & topical references has all the elements of folk theatre, entertainment & breath-taking beauty of original puppets.Mr. Padhye plans to perform this show in various Puppetry Festivals held in different parts of the world.
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India
at 10th World Festival of Puppet Art, Prague 
