Sphoorthi Theatre

Chekka Bommlata, also known as Koyya Bommlata, is a traditional form of wooden string puppetry that was performed at Kala Ashram in Adilabad, Telangana State, Bharata Desha. It was an incredible honour for Sphoorthi Theatre to organize this event. Great to see the octogenarians Mothe Ramaswamy and Mothe Yadagiri of Burugupeta village, Venkapuram Mandal, Bhupalpalli (Prof. Jayashankar) District, Warangal, Telangana State, India at Kala. They both live in Burugupeta village. String puppetry, also known as Chekka Bommlata or Koyya Bommlata, is a source of pride for the state of Telangana. There are currently two Mothe troupes that perform it; the first is from Ammapuram and is quite well known, and the other is from Burugupeta.  Earlier today, I published a post titled "The Decline of Traditional Wooden Puppetry in Telangana in 2012," which goes into detail regarding the Mothe Troupe of Ammapuram. Both the Mothe Ammapuram troupe and the Mothe Burugupeta troupe are connected...

Puppetry is  the oldest form of Folk Theatre in India. India is blessed with different forms of Puppets performed in different states. Andhra Pradesh is well known for Traditional Shadow Puppetry and Wooden String Puppetry. Wooden Puppets are called as "Koyya or Chakka" meaning piece of wood. " Bommalata " meaning play of dolls-puppets. Mothe Jaganathan and troupe from Ammapur Village, Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh is the only family still practicing wooden string puppets. The troupe consists of 10-12 members who are again interrelated to each other. All artists are singer, narrator, musician and also puppet manipulators. Most of them are men with 2-4 women also accompany during performance. There is one more group near Tirupati, Chittor District, Andhra Pradesh is also giving  the wooden string puppetry performance. However, not much is known for the moment and it is also believed that they no more operate in a troupe and are disintegrated. T...