This document discusses various folk media art forms across India. It describes popular forms like Tamasha from Maharashtra, Pawada ballads, Keertana storytelling, Yakshagana drama from Karnataka, Nautanki and Dashavatara drama. Other forms mentioned are Ramlila, Jatra, Bhavai from Gujarat, Therukothu street theater in Tamil Nadu, and puppetry styles. The document outlines characteristics of each form like musical instruments used, themes, roles of performers, and origins. It notes that folk media is used for entertainment as well as conveying social and political messages to both literate and illiterate audiences.

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