Puppet show Vikram and Betaal at Ravindra Bharathi today

Ratnamala Nori, the founder of The Nori Art &Puppetry Centre, a cultural NGO at Hyderabad, and recipient of Ugadi Puruskar award for her innovative work with puppetry in 1998 has been relentlessly working for promoting the art of puppetry.

Through her centre - Nori Art Centre and Puppetry, Ratnamala Nori presents ‘Vikram and Betaal’- A puppetry play which is directed by her on March 14 from 6.45pm at Ravindra Bharathi Auditorium.

The play revolves around the stories of ‘Vikram and Betaal’, which is originally written in Sanskrit and has been an integral part of Indian folklore for many centuries.

Legendary emperor of ancient India Vikramaditya, in order to fullfil a vow, was required to remove a corpse from a treetop and carry it on his shoulder to another place in silence.

The spirit of Betaal narrates a story to the King and poses a query. When the king responds with the answer, the corpse flies back to the treetop! The king has to go after him and start all over again. This follows in a succession of amazing stories and answers.

“The present puppet play carries three stories ‘The Impossible Statue’, ‘The Three Special Brahmins’ and ‘The Brides Dilemma’. And the Puppets used in the play are rod, glove, mouth puppets and masks. The play duration is about 50 minutes.” Ratnamala shares.