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Journey of Govardhana Lila puppet show

Subuddhi Raya Das, a Russian disciple of Indradyumna Swami, has been making theaters since 1995. After seeing one of his performances, Indradyumna Swami instructed him to make a performance for the polish tour. Subuddhi took this instruction to the heart and thus began the journey of Govardhana lila puppet show.

The following is an interview with Subuddhi Raya.

Q: How did you start to make theater for the tour?

A: First I learnt from Vibhulamsa, a professional director, about how to make puppet shows. I started making theater for the devotees in Ekaterinburg. Then Gurudeva saw one of my puppet shows in the Ratha Yatra, and invited me for the Polish tour.

Initially, I made a show with little Krishna and Balarama from behind a black box. Two years later, I made an entire lila, directing twenty small puppets on Janmastami for the devotees in the tour. And Gurudeva said: “I want the same, but for the big stage.” And he gave me one year to work on it.

Q: How did you go about producing Govardhan lila puppet show.

A: After the first show, we made many of the other main Krishna Lilas, except Govardhana Lila. Govardhana Lila is quite esoteric, and we needed to make it more attractive and easy to understand. So Gurudeva sent me to the Disneyland in Paris to get some inspiration from there.

First, I wrote the script and got Gurudeva’s permission. Then I wrote to quite a few devotees and they dropped everything else and came to help me. They started working hard to put everything together, like sewing, decoration, costumes, puppets, etc. Ganga Lila, Rasa Lila and Amala Gaura Mantra Prabhu worked for about 12 hours a day, and were very precise in every detail. Everything was done with high quality. The professional compositor, Vladimir Popov has been making music for our tour for the last ten years. So once I told him about the story, he immediately made the perfect music exactly fitting the scene.

We had to make all the mechanism work: like how to decorate the puppets, how to move the eyes and mouth of Govardhana, how to get them packed and unpacked quickly, how to transport them, etc. And everything has to be inexpensive. After the production, 15 devotees came to Poland one month in advance to practice the new play.

Q: How long is the performance on stage?

A: It’s only 30 minutes. The text is only 2 pages, but there are constant changes of scenes on the stage to keep the attention of the audience.

Q: As you start to work on it, did you expect it to be successful?

A: There was no way to find out until the whole show came together on stage. There are always unpredictable factors with 50 people working together. It became possible only with Gurudeva’s blessings and the team effort of a group of wonderful dedicated devotees. By the Lord’s grace, this lila has been well received so far.


Views: 585 • July 10, 2010 Behind-the-scenes




Comments : 1


  1. WE want a clip!!