For the first time in her life, 70-year-old Pappathi saw the world beyond her rural sojourns when she visited Chennai in July. It was a world of technology churning out gizmos that have been threatening to quell her vocation and passion for shadow puppetry. Curiously enough, she found it was also a world that did not quite label her as obsolete.

SCREEN PLAY: The invisible hands at the festival in Chennai

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES Lengthy episodes from epics give way to shorter folktales. Spotlights and electric lamps replace Petromax lamps. Plastic and board puppets used in place of animal hide ones. Social messages are delivered along with entertainment.

Shadow puppetry, the art form that dates back to the 5th century B.C., is struggling to survive amid the bombardment of electronic entertainment. However, the Shadow Puppet Theatre Festival, organised by Kalai Foundation in Chennai for the first time in the city recently, proved that the age-old magic still works. "The good turnout at the festival confirms that the form's appeal pervades the urban mind too," says R.V. Ramani, whose documentary on shadow puppeteers Nee Engey has been selected for the Yamaghata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan. But Ramani believes that the real filmmakers are the shadow puppeteers. "For thousands of years they have been igniting people's imagination with a screen, light and shadows sans lens and celluloid."

Till a decade ago, some 200 families in four southern states-Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra-used to hold every remote area under the spell of their rustic performances, using leather puppets, screens and lanterns. These puppeteers were held in high esteem as they performed sequences from the Ramayana over 10 days. Then came TV, pushing shadow puppetry to the background of rural entertainment. Says Pappathi, leader of a team of shadow puppet artistes in Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu, for 40 years: "We had enough money and were happy to be the main source of entertainment. But later, as TV started showing the epics our 10-day performances shrunk to a couple of hours as did our income." Pappathi's son-in-law and his children have taken to dancing to entertain villagers.

But all is not lost for the enchanting art form as performers seek out innovations and improvement. The lengthy episodes of the Ramayana have given way to shorter, crispier folktales. Petromax lanterns, used to backlight the screen, have been replaced by incandescent lamps and spotlights. While the grand old families of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu still use puppets made of animal hide, some contemporary puppeteers in Kolkata and Chennai have replaced the traditional material with plastic and board. Says Swapna Sen, a puppeteer from Kolkata: "I take inspiration from traditional puppetry and employ contemporary methods. It makes puppetry more appealing to the urban middle class."

Government agencies and NGOs hire these artistes to spread social messages as puppetry is an effective medium. However, Ramani feels it is not enough to just "use" the artistes. The art form as well as the performers should be encouraged to preserve the magical past for the posterity. Right now, the plight of the traditional puppeteer is reflected in a scene in Ramani's documentary. An artiste from Maradi in Tirunelveli shows a torn puppet and remarks, "We have eaten off parts of Ravana's head." This cannibalism can be checked.