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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Dadi Pudumjee 212000.jpg|thumb|250px|Dadi Pudumjee at AHA! Children’s Theatre Festival, [[Bangalore]], India, 2016.]]
'''Dadi Pudumjee''' is a leading [[puppeteer]] in [[India]] and he is the founder of ''The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust''. He was awarded the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in 1992.

He is the President of [[UNIMA]] and past member of the General Council of the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]].

==Biography==
===Education===
Pudumjee is a [[Parsi]] from Pune,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-01-26|title=Padma Shri Dadi Pudumjee at Kebab Bistro|url=http://kebabbistro.com/2016/01/26/padma-shree-dadi-pudumjee-at-kebab-bistro/|access-date=2020-10-11|website=Kebab Bistro|language=en-US}}</ref> where he did his university education was in [[Pune]] later at the NID [[National Institute of Design]] and [[Darpana Academy of Performing Arts]] in [[Ahmedabad]] under late Meher Contractor, after which he went to the Marionette Theatre Institute in [[Stockholm]], Sweden, and studied puppetry under [[Michael Meschke]].

===Career===
Drama and puppetry pedagogue at Var theatre Medborgahuset Stockholm Sweden, 1979
He was later a guest director at the Puppen Theatre, Berlin, GDR, Jan 1979. He directed and designed a shadow play the double shadow, on a folk tale by [[Vijaydan Detha]].

In 1980, he founded the Sutradhar Puppet Theatre at the puppetry division at the [[Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts]] in New Delhi and was its artistic director until 1986, after which he set up his own puppet company, [http://www.isharapuppet.com The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust.]

Pudumjee's puppetry is not restricted to the more common versions of string and hand-puppets. He has also used semi-sculptural puppets that are attached to actors' bodies and carried across stage.

'''Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust''' includes a variety of other media and performers: dancers, actors, objects. Many of his performances are designed to appeal to children, but he has also, especially in his work that addresses themes such as HIV/AIDS and substance use, taken up more adult themes. He ranges freely across multiple cultural traditions. Some of his performances are adaptations of material familiar in traditional Indian theatre, like the story of [[rama|Ram]] and [[Sita]] or his 2004 work based on the adventures of [[Baital Pachisi|Vikram and Betaal]] (Vampire Tales), titled Transpositions.<ref>Journeys, Images of Truth and simple dreams are some of his recent productions [http://www.outoftheblue.org.uk/webpages/Transposition.pdf Transposition in Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107194729/http://www.outoftheblue.org.uk/webpages/Transposition.pdf |date=7 November 2007 }}</ref>
He has traveled widely to perform as well as teach in many countries including the U.K., Russia, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, U.S.A, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Spain. Pudumjee and his troupe performed a version of the Vikram-Betaal myth at New York's La MaMa Theater.<ref>[http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=6&t=866 another subcontinent]</ref>

Over the years, he has worked extensively with children, especially street children, including his 2007 project with street children of [[Salaam Baalak Trust]], for UNESCO Paris<ref>[http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2007/05/03/stories/2007050301200100.htm Article Title] The Hindu, 3 May 2007] {{dead link|date=August 2018}}</ref> and the EU on projects on non-formal education that address HIV and substance use.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.4to40.com/legends/index.asp?id=252 |title=Dadi Padamjee at 4to40 |access-date=26 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181322/http://www.4to40.com/legends/index.asp?id=252 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
April 2008 he was elected the president of [http://www.unima.org UNIMA] for a four-year term - UNIMAs first non-European president in the organisation's 80-year history. He was reelected as UNMA President till 2016.
Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust organises the annual Ishara International puppet festival each year in January/February in Delhi, with shows in Chennai, Jaipur and Mumbai in the previous festivals. 2010 will be the 8th season of this popular festival, with both traditional and modern puppet groups from India and abroad taking part.
Ishara is known as one of India's leading modern puppet companies, Ishara creates puppet events, conducts workshops, and performances on social awareness themes. Styles range from simple rod puppets to larger than life figures and object puppetry, processional figures, shadow, glove and mixed media.

Ishara conducts workshops for various organisations, schools and NGOs in Delhi and India.
2014 Ishara created puppets for the opera A Flowering Tree directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, at the Theatre du Chatelet Paris, and also puppets for the song sequence Bismil in the film Haider by Vishal Bhardwaj.

The annual Ishara International puppet festival, organised each year in February in Delhi and other cities is in its 16th year in 2018.

==Awards==
Awarded Padmashree by the President of India 2011<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2014 }}</ref>
*[[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]], 1992
*[[Sanskriti Pratishan Award]]
*[[Delhi Natya Sangh Award]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.isharapuppet.com Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust Official Website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060514011731/http://puppetindia.com/contribute3.htm Dadi Pudumjee's in Puppet India]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pudumjee, Dadi}}
[[Category:Artists from Ahmedabad]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Indian puppeteers]]
[[Category:UNIMA presidents]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:National Institute of Design alumni]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian artists]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]

Dadi Pudumjee - Revision history

->GreenC bot at 19:16, 24 October 2021