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Interview with Anurupa Roy by Aditi
In a short span of 25 years Anurupa Roy has grown to be one of Delhi's if not India's foremost puppeteers. She has been involved in various aspects of the performing arts all through her school and college years. She received professional training in the art of puppetry from Dramatiska Institute at the University of Stockholm. In 1998 she started her troupe- "Kat Katha". Her work has always been concerned with issues of social concern. Anurupa has worked with many mediums of expression including a performance with noted Bharatnatyam dancer Geeta Chandran and a collaboration of Music and Puppetry with Smita Bharti.She has worked on a television based puppet show for children going by the name of "Khullam Khulla". in an effort to make children's entertainment in Delhi more meaningful "Kat Katha" is trying to set up a children's theatre at the India Habitat Centre, for an ongoing programme in puppetry, in order to make the art more visible in the capital. Puppetry and entertainment for Anurupa has never been divorced from social responsibility and she has worked with a number of NGO's working with slum children, women's development and children with disabilities.
Q IF YOU WERE A ROCK STAR WHO WOULD YOU BE ??
Ringo star
Q IF YOUR ART WAS AN ANIMAL WHICH WOULD IT BE ??
Dog
Q REMIXES ARE THE WEAPONS OF THE DEVIL ??
Definitely but remixes of everything not just music
Q WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION ??
Miniatures, land of the fantastic and the fantasy, I suppose I wanted to be a bard.
Q DID YOU EVER QUESTION YOUR ART ??
Never ever it's always been a party
Q WAS THIS YOU'RE FIRST CAREER OPTION ??
No, I went through a phase of denial I tried to look for a career in academics but soon I was doing
  Puppetry almost 10 hours a day.
Q IS A CAREER IN ART A RISKY PROPOSITION ??
Yes it is, its should be made in to a self sustaining art
Q DO YOU THINK THE EDUCATION SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE RE-EVOLVED TO ENCOURAGE THE ARTS ??
There is much more inclusion of the arts today but we continue to segregate entertainment from
  education.
Q WOULD MONETARY BENIFITS SUCH AS PENSIONS ENCOURAGE MORE PEOPLE TO TAKE UP ART ??
It would definitely encourage more people to join.
Q ARE THEIR ANY INFORMATION AND RESOURCE CENTERS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE CAN REFER TO ??
Puppetry can be very expensive or very cheap depending on what kind one is interested in. There are no schools in Delhi or infact in India that teach puppetry the only way to learn is to apprentice with some professional puppeteer. The ministry of culture has fellowships for puppeteers but generally traditional performers are preferred. Contemporary puppeteers generally get a lot of flak.