Gandhi's life enacted in a puppet performance

Jaipur, Oct 2 (UNI) With Bollywood blockbuster ''Lage Raho Munnabhai'' creating a renewed interest in the life and message of Mahatma Gandhi, some youths in the Pink City have utilised a hitherto unexplored medium to pay homage to the Father of the Nation.

Rashtriya Yuva Sangathan activists today staged a puppet drama on the life and struggle of Gandhiji. The hour-long drama 'Mohan Se Mahatma,' narrates about 16 incidents in his life from his childhood to death, and seemed to be enthusiastically received by the audience.

''It is a humble effort on the part of the organisation to relate Gandhiji to the present generation,'' Rajasthan Samagra Sangh president Sawai Singh said.

About the origin of the innovative idea, Mr Singh said it came after Gandhian Narayanbhai Desai conducted a 'Gandhi Kata' here in June.

''Most of the audience at the Katha belong to the older generation. So we thought of a new innovative idea to catch the younger generation, especially the school children,'' he said.

He said they had used rods and globe puppet (manipulated by hand) to enact the drama. ''It took us three months to write the scripts of the play. Then the costumes were designed according to the characters,'' he said, adding this was followed by background music and songs to give a comprehensive treatment to the performance.

UNI PJJ VD HS1812