Leather puppets demonstrating the war between the Pandava, Arjuna and his son Babruvahana

Togalu Gombeyaata is a puppet show unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Togalu Gombeyaata translates to a play of leather dolls in the native language of Kannada.^[1]. It is a form of shadow puppetry. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat has undertaken research on this art and has a good collection of leather puppets.

Making of the puppet[link]

The puppets used in Togalu Gombeyaata are made of leather. Goat hide and deer skin are generally used for making these puppets since they have the characteristic of transparency and can easily absorb colours. The raw hide is treated with salt and caustic soda to remove hair and other impurities and then dried. Then colours are applied on the leather using locally available vegetable dyes. Red, blue, green and black colours are usually used..^[2] The hide is then cut into appropriate shapes which are joined together using strings and small sticks. For puppets representing human and animal figures, the head and limbs are joined in such a way that they can be moved easily.^[3] The maximum size of the puppet is 4 x 3 feet and the minimum is 6 x 3 inches.^[2] The puppets are usually characters from the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. But with the advent of new era, personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi are also created using puppets.^[4]

Stage and settings[link]

A stage is set up using bamboo stems and woollen blankets. A white semi-transparent cloth is strung across and serves as a screen on which the images of the puppets are projected. The puppets are strung across a rope behind the screen and a bright oil lamp placed behind the puppets project their images on to the screen. The puppeteers sit behind the screen and manipulate the puppets based on the scene being played.^[3] However, innovation has entered this art with the usage of steel frames for stage, loud speakers to render voices and an arc-lamp instead of the oil lamp.^[4]

Performance[link]

The performance usually starts with an invocation to the Hindu God Ganesha and to the Hindu Goddess of learning Saraswati. The scenes enacted are usually those belonging to the Hindu epics, Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas. The puppeteers also provide voice to the puppets and an accompanying music is provided using a mukha-veena (veena played using mouth) or a harmonium. The puppets are controlled using sticks and strings. The performances usually commence at night and continue till dawn.

Notes[link]

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Anushka Shetty
Shetty at TeachAIDS launch event in 2010
Born	Sweety Shetty[1] (1981-11-07) 7 November 1981 (age 30)[2] Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Other names	Sweety, Tommulu
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005—present

Anushka Shetty (born on 7 November 1981 as Sweety Shetty) is an Indian film actress who works mainly in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. She debuted in the 2005 Telugu film Super and rose to fame following her performance in Vikramarkudu (2006).^[3] After starring in a series of high-budget productions alongside leading Telegu and Tamil actors, she went on to became one of Telegu and Tamil cinema's leading actresses in the successive years,^[4] while receiving high critical acclaim for her portrayal of the titular character in Arundhati,^[5] and as Saroja in Vedam,^[6] which fetched her two Filmfare, one Nandi and two CineMAA Awards.

Early life[link]

Anushka Shetty was born as Sweety Shetty on 7 November 1981^[2] in Mangalore. Shetty is an ethnic Bunt hailing from the landed Bellipady Uramalu Guthu family.^[7] Her parents are Prafulla and A.N. Vittal Shetty.^[7] She has two brothers Gunaranjan Shetty and Sai Ramesh Shetty who is a cosmetic surgeon.^[7] She attended her schooling in Bangalore. She did her Bachelor of Computer Applications at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.^[8] She was also a Yoga Instructor and has trained under yoga guru Bharat Thakur.

Film career[link]

Shetty made her acting debut in Puri Jagannath's 2005 Telugu film Super alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna. The same year, she acted in another film Mahanandi, which was an unsuccessful venture. In 2006, she had four releases, the first being S. S. Rajamouli's Vikramarkudu opposite Raviteja, in which she portrayed the character Neeraja Goswami. The film went on to become very successful and got her much recognition, that eventually made her very popular in Andhra Pradesh.^[3][9] She next had starred in the film Astram, a remake of the 1999 Hindi film Sarfarosh, following which she debuted in the Tamil film industry, acting in the Sundar C.-directed action flick Rendu, sharing screen space with R. Madhavan. Later that year, she made a special appearance in A. R. Murugadoss' directorial debut in Telugu, Stalin.

Her first release in 2007 was Lakshyam, after which she starred in Raghava Lawrence's Don opposite Nagarjuna again. The former, in particular, succeeded at the box office.^[10] In 2008 she had appeared in six films. Okka Magaadu was the first release, in which she played one of three female leads. Her subsequent releases Swagatam alongside Jagapati Babu and Bhumika Chawla and Baladur opposite Ravi Teja garnered poor reviews and box office returns.^[11][12] She next appeared in the film Souryam with Gopichand which became a box office hit.

In 2009, Shetty first starred in the blockbuster hit Arundhati. In this heroine-centric film, she essayed two roles for the first time.^[4] It was a critical as well as commercial success. Critics heaped praise on Anushka for her performance. Idlebrain's Jeevi wrote that she was "simply amazing in two roles" and that she did "exceptionally well with subtle yet impact creating performance", while Rediff claimed that she was "brilliant and breathtaking in parts",^[13] labelling Arundhati as "totally Anushka's film".^[14] Sify noted that she was "at her best with great performance".^[15] She went on to win the Nandi Special Jury Award and the Filmfare Best Actress Award among other accolades. Her next film, the action flick Billa, a remake of the 2007 Tamil namesake, itself a remake of the 1978 Hindi film Don, featured Shetty in a role contrary to that in Arundati. Her final release in 2009 was her second Tamil feature film, Vettaikkaran with leading Tamil actor Vijay which was one of the highest grosser of the year.^[16] She had an array of releases in 2010, with her Tamil release Singam co-starring Suriya emerging her highest-grosser of the year, while most her Telugu films performed poorly. She portrayed a prostitute in Krish's critically acclaimed anthology film Vedam,^[6] winning accolades for her performance, including her second consecutive Filmfare Award, following which she was selected to reprise the character in its Tamil remake, Vaanam as well. Her other 2010 releases were Panchakshari, Khaleja, Nagavalli and Ragada.

Vaanam became her first 2011 release, which received critical acclaimed reviews as well. Her next release Deiva Thirumagal with Vikram became a critical and commercial success, fetching her laurels for her portrayal as Anuradha, a lawyer. The successes of her Tamil films led to Anushka growing in popularity in Tamil cinema. She was subsequently offered several high-profile productions, including A. R. Murugadoss' new project starring Vijay and the Gautham Menon-directorial Neethane En Ponvasantham featuring Jeeva.^[17] with Sify calling her the "most wanted heroine in Kollywood".^[17] She confirmed that she had signed two Tamil films, Selvaraghavan's Irandam Ulagam opposite Arya and an action-masala film to be directed by Suraj, co-starring Karthi.^[18][19] She agree to be part of another Tamil production, Thaandavam, in November 2011.^[20] She is shooting for two Telugu projects as well, the fantasy film Damarukam alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna and the period drama Rampachodavaram.^[21] She is also acting in Koratala Siva's Vaaradhi opposite Prabhas.^[22]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Wins

• 2010: Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu - Arundhati
• 2010: Nandi Special Jury Award - Arundhati
• 2010: CineMAA Award for Best Actress - Arundhati
• 2010: Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine - Vettaikkaran
• 2011: CineMAA Award for Best Actress (Jury) - Vedam
• 2011: Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu - Vedam
• 2011: Jaya Award for Favorite Actrees - Deiva Thirumagal

Nominations

• 2011: Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu - Nagavalli
• 2011: Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine - Singam

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anushka Shetty

• Anushka Shetty at the Internet Movie Database