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Save them!

  • 30/01/1996

The dying art of the Santhal craftsman miniature Chadar Badar wooden puppets, tucked into their thatched roof in Dumka, Bihar, caught the eye of photojournalist and filmmaker Ravi Kant Dwivedi. In an appeal to save the art, he started a documentary film (16mm, colour) with meagre resources.

Today, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Delhi, is supporting the film. Says Ravi, "With only six practitioners in India, the most that can be done is to chronicle this small but significant part of India's rich folk culture, or it may soon pass into oblivion."

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