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Master Puppeteer A. Selvaraja - Cie Tolpava Koothu -Tamil nadu - India
Chinnandikuppam - Palla Theru - Opp. Ellayamman Koil Street - Injambakkam - 600041- Chennai

A.Selvaraja belongs to a family of traditional shadow puppeteers who had settled down in the temple city of Thirukazhukundram about 60 kms from Chennai. His father Arjunan and his grandfather Govindaswamy Naidu were involved in this art. Mr Selvaraja himself owes much to his training and skill to his uncle Clellappa.

Earlier, leather puppet shows were staged during temple festivals and fairs. The themes were mythological, mostly from Ramayana and Mahabharatha. However, Selvaraja put to use the art, ot only for entertainment but also for education and creating awareness on socially relevant issues. he had skits on themes like child welfare, community health and adult literacy. He has also humorous programmes for scool children, birthday and parties.

Mr Selvaraja can also handle gloves and strings puppets in addition to the shadow puppets. He can present nearly 15 plays in shadow puppetry. He has also a Bioscop

This puppeteer has lost all these puppets from these ancient ancestors during the 2003 Tsunami in Southeast Asia . It is one of the last shadow puppeteer of Tamil Nadu.

Tel : 9444 67 10 29 or 9941 04 21 40