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Summary The 6th national puppetry festival kicked off in Guwahati city of northeastern Indias Assam state.
The four-day festival has been organised by the cultural organisations Sangeet Natak Academy and Srimanta Shankardev Kalakshetra along with the support of the Department of Culture of the state government.The festival titled “Putul Yatra” saw groups from various states of India participating and also workshops were conducted to make people aware about the art of puppetry. Chabin Rajkhowa, the director of Srimanta Shankardev Kalakshetra, said that this festival was a big step to raise awareness among the people regarding this art form.“The aim of organising such a high national festival is to bring awareness among people. There is no age group as regards to puppetry. People of all age groups like it very much. The Sangeet Natak Acedemy is very kind to organise this festival with Srimanta Shankardev Kalakshetra with department of culture, government of Assam, for the first time in northeast in such a colourful way. Each and every group, especially youngsters, can get more and more inspiration to work. Not only for their livelihood, but for the propagation of this traditional art form,” he said.The festival also saw puppet performances by the various groups that participated in it and this left the audience spellbound. Dhrubajit, a spectator at the festival, said that there should be more such festivals for the propagation of this art. The puppetry shows organised during the festival were all based on traditional forms puppetry and the performances were based on traditional stories and folklore. The festival will be going on from April 26 to Friday (April 29).
