PPT discusses about the Folk Media in India

1. FOLK MEDIA
JANARDHAN.J

2. FOLK MEDIA
 used for moral, religious and socio-political purpose
 They resorted to for pure entertainment
 Packed with spontaneity, boisterousness and humor
 It is personal, familiar credible forms
 Their targeted people are literate and illiterates
 It discuss the contemporary issues on its themes
 Folk forms are religion, community, caste, culture and
language/ dialect-specific and bear values

3. FOLK FORMS
 The folk theatre is impolite & vulgar
 The secular forms replete with sexual jokes
 It is considered improper for women to watch
 Folk has mass appeal
 It has the universality
 It has enacted in urban and rural India

4. FOLK FORMS
There are several popular folk art forms dominate pan India
Tamasha Bhavai
Nautanki Keertana
Yakshagana Dashavatar
Ramlila&Rasalila Jatra
Bhavai Terukothu
Puppetry Street Theatre

5. TAMASHA
 It is a lively and robust folk form of Maharashtra
 It has over 400 years history
 Bajirao-II popularized this folk art
 It is a pure commercial entertainer
 Star performers are female artists
 They will sing popular songs along
With patron
 It had no religious or social message
 It just deals philosophical and moral issues

6. TAMASHA
 They use Cylindrical two-sided drum-Dholkhi
 Six to eight male singers or performers give chorus
 Two or more female artists performs dance
 It has been extensively used by Marathi dramatists like Anna
Bhau Sathe, P.L. Deshpande, Vasant Sabnis, Bapat etc
 Most popular form of Tamasha is Sangeet Barris (song troupes)
 It has three to six women dancer- singers, Tabala &
Harmonium and Tuntun players
 Dailogues, songs & Dance are the part of narration

7. PAWADA
 It’s a Maharashtra folk ballad form
 It has its prominence in 16th Century
 It is dramatic in nature & dominated by tales
 It is combination of vocal & instrumental music
 Daph, Tuntune, Majira are being used
 The main player indulges in dramatic gestures,
describing the heroic deeds
 It effects the whole performance

8. PAWADA
 It doesn’t require elaborated stage costumes, stage & time
 Women artists wear 9-yard Maharashtrian sari of loud colors
 Men wear Kurtha Pyjama & a dark jacket
 Dangi Tamasha is also popular in Gujarat
 It is performed by Dangi tribals in Gujarat
 It narrates stories of kings & historical figures
 It is interspersed with Songs and Dances

9. KEERTANA
 The Keertana/ Harikatha/ Harikeertana is a kind of drama
 One gifted artist performs & narrates the story
 Sage Narada is believed to have invented this art form
 150 yrs ago it had spread from MH to Karnataka & Tamil Nadu
 It was associated with bhakthi movement
 Saint Kabir and Tukaram to preach the Hindu faith

10. KEERTANA
 There are three popular types of Harikatha/ Harikeertan in MH
Traditional/Naradiya Harikatha
Warkari Harikatha- (i.Devotional worship, ii. One man show)
Nationalist Harikatha –exploited by Central/State govt.
 Keertana – Gujarat’s temple traditions of Keertan sangeet
 Its similar that of Harikeertana in MH
 It has been a popular medium of mass edutainment for
centuries
The trained singers embellish their narration with suitable songs

11. YAKSHAGANA
 It is a song of the Yaksha
 Most popular folk drama in Karnataka
 It has its mark in 16th Century
 Its themes are from the Bhagavata
with lot of local flavor
 It is full of Song and repartee
 The narrator is known as Bhagavata
 The late Shivaram Karanth popularized this folk drama
 Girish Karnand’s play Hayavadan employs same genre

12. NAUTANKI
 Its a north Indian folk drama form
 It gets its name perhaps from the charming Rani Nautanki of
Multan
 Nautanki has a simple dramatic structure
 The themes are derived from the ancient epics and folklore
(Laila Majnu, Amar Singh Rathod & Sultana Daku)
 Music is the prime element in this art form
 It provide a pace and tempo
 Makkara and Dholak were being used as main instruments

13. DASHAVATAR
 It’s a religious folk theatre form of South Konkan
 Priest Gore launched Dashavata in 400 years ago
 It is re-enactment of the ten incarnations of lord Vishnu
 It is generally performs in temples
 Male artists are alone allowed to perform
 Men of a dozen different castes take part in the worship
 The USP of this art for is Improvisation
 The Gods, priests, social and community leaders are ridiculed

14. RAMLILA & RASALILA
 The Ramalila celebrates the story of the Ramayana
 Rasalila focuses on the exploits of Lord Krishna & Radha
 The Ramalila is enacted all over the North-India during
Dassehara festival
 Rasalila, performs in Gujarat, MH, Manipur & Kerala
 Ramalila is made of cycle of plays of Rama
 Varanasi and Ramnagar are the focal areas
 The cast is male with boys are playing
the roles

15. JATRA
 It’s a folk theatre of Bengal and Orissa
 It got the name because of its nomadic habit of its players
 Jatra compositions focus on lives of Krishna & Radha
 It propagate Bhakti cult and Shakti cult
 In 18th Century, erotic elements were injected
 Utpal Dutt has used as an instrument for political education
 Singing interludes by the Chorus (juri), loud & high pitches

16. BHAVAI
 The Bhavai is the foremost folk theatre form in Gujarat
 A stylised Medieval dramatic form
 It has a Ranglo and a Naik, besides others
 Ranglo is the the narrator
 Naik is the suthradhar or manager
 Ranglo enjoys the privilege of poking fun at local leaders
 Making satirical comments on social, political & current affairs
 He has the freedom to connect the past with present
 He also act as liaison b/w audience and the players

17. BHAVAI
 Its performance starts with a devotional song
 The ragas are largely classical
 Popular musical forms (Bhajans, Dohas, Garbas and Ghazals) makes
extremely lively folk theatre experience
 The foot work of garba & Classical Dance forms make it a
feast
 Ketan Mehta’s film Bhavni Bhavai has superbly translated this
folk drama

18. THERUKOTHU
 In Tamilnadu, Traditional media includes
Puppetry, Puravi Attam , Nizhal Attam, Theru Koothu,
Kazhai Koothu, Villupattu
 Theru Koothu is the most popular
 It’s a popular street theatre –Dance and Classical literary forms
 Prose, Music and drama
 Its believed to have evolved from Villupattu & Natakam
 Religion and downright buffoonery mix freely in the street
theatre

19. PUPPETRY
 It has fascinated children and adults
 Four styles of puppetry became a popular
 Sutradharika-Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka, TN & AP
 Red Puppets- West Bengal
 Shadow Puppets: favorite form in AP, Karnataka, Kerala &
Orissa
 Hand Puppets: Orissa, Kerala & Tamilnadu
Hand Puppets are fashioned in Kerala
Gloved puppet is familiar

20. PUPPETRY
 UBI & LIC have used the medium of puppetry in UP
 IIMC has found that effectiveness of Puppetry is more than
documentary
 Women & Children shown more favorable response
 It led to the Films Division and Children’s Film Society
encouraging the ‘Puppet films’
 Doordarshan too used the puppet figures in children
programmes

21. ADVANTAGES OF FOLK MEDIA
 Folk media is close to hear and minds
 It appeal is at a personal and intimate level
 Content & format is familiar, local, colloquial dialects are used
 Rapport is immediate and direct
 Barriers to communication almost non-existent
 Flexibility in accommodating new themes
 Current events can be discussed
 It’s a mix of dialogue, dance, song & moralizing
 Folk media invite people to participation
 Satisfy our innate need for self expression

22. ADVANTAGES OF FOLK MEDIA
 Still the only mass media in country wide
 30 states have distinctive folk and traditional media forms
 Film songs & other elements introduced in traditional media
 Folk themes & formats were incorporated in Cinema & TV
 Song& Drama Division utilizes traditional, folk & contemporary forms

23. THANK YOU