More on Borrowed Fire
"...a clear and poetic documentation...an admirable achievement"
On the southwestern coast of India, an extraordinary performing art has evolved over many centuries. It is known as Tolpava Koothu--"the Play of Leather Shadows." Performed in special outdoor theatres facing temples of the goddess Bhadrakali, it enacts the story of the Ramayana, the most sacred of Hindu epics.Audio-visual excerpt from "Borrowed Fire"
Krishnankutty Pulavar was the last of the masters who have devoted their lives to this art. "Borrowed Fire" is the story of his lifelong struggle to keep his art alive. It is also the story of those who undertake the marathon task of performing the play with him. In the quiet solitude of night, lit only by the flickering light of oil lamps, shadow figures of gods and demons dance in the hands of ordinary men. Verses from their ancient text written on palm leaves echo through the night as the puppeteers perform--for twenty-one nights, all night, until dawn, to enact their story from beginning to end. And, most astoundingly, they do this even in the complete absence of any human audience, for, as they believe, they are performing for the gods themselves.
