Reminiscing about times when puppetry was treasured
The capital’s first woman puppeteer talks about her calling as an entertainer.
The puppeteer recalls the way she coordinated everything from scratch for the shows that went on to become popular back in the day. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
In a time when entertainment avenues were few and far between, a young woman introduced puppetry to the capital. After graduating art school in 1975, Zooba Kitchlew joined forces with a few like-minded people and initiated a puppetry department under the tutelage of the then Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) Deputy Director Shahid Toosy.
The small group was sent to China to be trained under experts and became certified puppeteers. With religious rhetoric at its peak, many kept their creativity low-key but Zooba took pride in her work. She spent hours sculpting puppet dolls, pulling together backdrops, working on voiceovers and storyboarding ideas.
“We only had four puppets and it would take almost a whole day to paint a puppet’s face. I was engaged in everything from sculpting to moulding, casting and painting the puppets. It was a labour of love for me,” she said, reminiscing about the good old days.
The group wrote scripts on the creation of Pakistan, making education a fun experience for schoolchildren. The creative team expanded to 35 people within two years. They travelled across the country, entertaining and educating through their puppet shows.
“There was a connection between us and the crowd. Our puppet Chacha Kamru became famous with his witty one-liners,” she said.
However, 35 years down the line, things have changed drastically. Zooba believes puppetry is on a steep decline, for which she blames a lack of creativity and accessibility to the craft.
“We would perform at schools, our popular shows would be held at Liaquat Memorial Hall every week for a Rs5 ticket and the auditorium would be jam-packed. Now, we are mainly restricted to PNCA,” she said.
Zooba garnered popularity with the pretty little puppet, Kiran. When Farooq Qaiser’s “Uncle Sargam” came into the national limelight, that was the prime of puppetry in Pakistan, she said.
But times have changed. “Everything has become generic now. Now children play Xboxes and Gameboys on their television screens.”
Even though puppetry entertains the underprivileged children, they are denied this facility due to security situation and a lack of interest on the government’s part, she said.
As the charm of her handcrafted puppets fades way, Zooba has turned to working in the visual arts department. She becomes nostalgic about the days when young and old faces would light up with excitement when the puppets went on stage. “It was all about the joy on their faces,” she said.
An earlier version of this article had a couple of editing error which have been corrected.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.
In a time when entertainment avenues were few and far between, a young woman introduced puppetry to the capital. After graduating art school in 1975, Zooba Kitchlew joined forces with a few like-minded people and initiated a puppetry department under the tutelage of the then Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) Deputy Director Shahid Toosy.
The small group was sent to China to be trained under experts and became certified puppeteers. With religious rhetoric at its peak, many kept their creativity low-key but Zooba took pride in her work. She spent hours sculpting puppet dolls, pulling together backdrops, working on voiceovers and storyboarding ideas.
“We only had four puppets and it would take almost a whole day to paint a puppet’s face. I was engaged in everything from sculpting to moulding, casting and painting the puppets. It was a labour of love for me,” she said, reminiscing about the good old days.
The group wrote scripts on the creation of Pakistan, making education a fun experience for schoolchildren. The creative team expanded to 35 people within two years. They travelled across the country, entertaining and educating through their puppet shows.
“There was a connection between us and the crowd. Our puppet Chacha Kamru became famous with his witty one-liners,” she said.
However, 35 years down the line, things have changed drastically. Zooba believes puppetry is on a steep decline, for which she blames a lack of creativity and accessibility to the craft.
“We would perform at schools, our popular shows would be held at Liaquat Memorial Hall every week for a Rs5 ticket and the auditorium would be jam-packed. Now, we are mainly restricted to PNCA,” she said.
Zooba garnered popularity with the pretty little puppet, Kiran. When Farooq Qaiser’s “Uncle Sargam” came into the national limelight, that was the prime of puppetry in Pakistan, she said.
The puppeteer recalls the way she coordinated everything from scratch for the shows that went on to become popular back in the day. PHOTO: EXPRESS
But times have changed. “Everything has become generic now. Now children play Xboxes and Gameboys on their television screens.”
Even though puppetry entertains the underprivileged children, they are denied this facility due to security situation and a lack of interest on the government’s part, she said.
As the charm of her handcrafted puppets fades way, Zooba has turned to working in the visual arts department. She becomes nostalgic about the days when young and old faces would light up with excitement when the puppets went on stage. “It was all about the joy on their faces,” she said.
An earlier version of this article had a couple of editing error which have been corrected.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.