Kalaivanan clutches traditional art form to articulate social awareness

CHENNAI: For the last four decades, hand puppeteer Mu Kalaivanan has been following his heart. In his childhood, when his family was struck with poverty, he gathered around children and held a puppet show by collecting a little fare. Gradually, his interest and passion grew, leading to over 6800 shows across 45 years. “My job, art, and life—everything revolved around puppetry,” says the 66-year-old with happiness. Skilled in hand puppetry, he manages to put together all aspects of the shows, including stage setup, handcrafting toys, background props, and lighting, single-handedly. He is the only puppeteer from Chennai and even in Tamil Nadu to manage it sans a team.

His shows are always centered around social awareness, hoping to bring about a change in society.“I will never delve into devotional shows. Every divine tale preaches about reaching heaven after death.I aspire to guide people to a living heaven right here, right now,” he remarks.

Kalaivanan believes individual changes drive societal transformation. The puppeteer has always stayed ahead of the time with his shows, avoiding superstitious beliefs, suicidal thoughts and even on women overcoming pain during menstruation , among many others. “Through my shows, I aim to make a meaningful contribution to society,” as he talks on purpose about taking up social awareness messages. The biggest achievement for Kalaivanan according to him is when people reach out to him once a show ends. “After a show on child marriage, someone approached me. They had planned to marry off their grandchild at a young age, but after watching the show, they postponed the plan for three years. I would call that my ‘Oscar moment’,” a smile elicits from his heart.

The world has undergone significant changes with evolving technologies. However, Kalaivanan considers the technology only a boon. He is delighted with the assistance of microphones, eliminating the need for shouting, and as a broader medium. The show’s duration has significantly decreased from two and half hours to just one hour, enabling him to focus precisely on the key points.

When asked about how people are responding to puppeteer shows in this modern era, he says,”It’s challenging, but I don’t dwell on whether the audience respond or not. My focus is always on captivating their attention. Achieving that alone feels like half the victory to me.”